Back with my homies

AS with most long-time friendships, one never truly recalls how the relationships were formed and how they were first cemented.

Gorjus, Dee, Berry and I bonded as close friends all throughout high school at St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City, although we belonged to different homeroom classrooms (only Dee and I were actually classmates all throughout the four years). But I’ve known Gorjus since pre-school at Little Angel’s Nursery School, where once she so bravely told my Mama why we had to have afternoon classes, because Mama didn’t believe me. (This was after a massive typhoon hit the country and all schools were closed for a month).

Gorjus returned to Manila recently for a week from her home in the US, where she keeps house with her doctor-husband and two very sweet kids (a boy and a girl). So over dinner and then coffee one rainy Thursday, we got together with Dee, gabbed, and reminisced some.

We had a hilarious time, though there were some serious turns, especially when we exchanged stories of a few girls who had passed on in tragic ways. But it was all great to be with my homies again even if it was for just a night. Too bad Berry wasn’t around, but thank God for Facebook, we are all updated about each other’s lives even if we don’t talk every day.

Dee—married to a banker—works in a government agency, and takes care of her two grown kids, one of them already a lovely 18-year-old. It was Dee who married first, followed I think by Berry, who now also lives in the US, then Gorjus. I am the only one in the group who is still unmarried and who lives rather untraditionally, I suppose.

Berry was called “Sor Maria” or “Sister Berry,” because she was the sweetest and most demure in the group. For a while we were sure she would end up as a nun at St. Theresa’s. She was and still is the epitome of quiet beauty and brains; I remembered her as always being at the top of the class. She was nice and respectful, although Gorjus claims that I actually got so miffed at her once that I refused to speak to Berry for quite a time, despite the apparent thousand apologies she gave me.

(Unfortunately, Gorjus doesn’t recall what caused the rift, and also fails to recall how we patched things up. I still don’t remember this incident, as with some other events Gorjus seems to hold in her head, but one must forgive my senior moments. We’re talking about events that happened 30 years ago—I can’t even recall what I ate for lunch yesterday.)



Dee was my closest buddy—the veritable gal pal who would endlessly listen to me prattle on and on and on about my sad sack life, and complain about the idiots in our midst. I don’t know where she got the patience. Yet she was the brave one who could confront me about important issues, and I had quite a few in high school. What we joke about today is how Dee was such a baby—the quintessential hatid-sundo girl—with her mommy just a few steps behind her most of the time. She protests now that she did a year on the school bus though. Uhm, okay.

I led a slightly less ethereal existence in my elementary years, riding the jeepney of Mang Munding, who plied the Quiapo-Dimasalang route between 8 am and 3 pm, but turned his vehicle into a “school bus” in the morning and in the afternoons when he would fetch us kids to and from school, and safely return us to our mothers’ loving arms.

Truly Gorjus was our Sony Pro memory stick that night, reminding us of the various laughable incidents or somber events that affected our gang of four or our batch back in the day (over 200GB of information dating as far back as 1970!). She was also our news bulletin of sorts, reporting on the successes of our girls, especially those living abroad. Apparently, our batch—I will never tell you what year we graduated lest I incriminate myself—has the most number of people who moved overseas, especially after college.

It’s unfortunate for our country to lose these brilliant beautiful minds, but what an honor for St. Theresa’s to have that many respectable women contributing their talents to make foreign economies work better! But then I have yet to hear of any Theresian performing much less than what’s expected of her by our nuns.

I was especially awed to find out that one of our girls works at Nasa as a nuclear physicist, one makes a good living as a jewelry retailer, another is a successful dermatologist, while another is actually the mother of a very current showbiz star! Our very own Berry is now studying to get a teacher’s certificate which will play right into President Barack Obama’s recent call for more teachers.

Here at home, we have an amazing number of bankers from our batch, a pediatrician, a well-known writer and newspaper columnist (my friend Georgia, who moved to another high school but still considers herself a Theresian), an architect, a surgeon, lawyers, etc., all leading honorable and admirable lives. And some are, yes, “domestic engineers” who keep house for their husbands and their now-grown adolescent children. Despite the times we lived in when all avenues for women were swung open, at St. Theresa’s we were taught that all career paths were prestigious—whether one was a housewife or worked in an office.

Of course, there was a short discussion about unsavory rumors circulating among some batchmates concerning yours truly, and a few other girls, mostly untrue. (One was even dubbed a Japayuki just because she lived in Japan, how cruel!) I really couldn’t care less. These people were never my friends then, why should I expect them to be friendly towards me today? And really, there are always two versions to a story, but when passed on as a rumor, will likely get distorted and the people involved, misunderstood.

But just like any school, there are the smart ones and there are the bullies. There are also the truly kind and sincere girls whom I appreciate for their friendship to this day—even if we see each other just on Facebook these days—and there are the backbiters. There are the quiet hardworking ones, and there are the veritable nuisances. Not one high school is without all these kinds of people. But life goes on and despite some negativity, our true fighting nature is unleashed, and we triumph against the canard and the cheap tattlers.

Still, as I sat back sipping my tea and listening to Gorjus and Dee discussing our girls and the past events in our lives, I couldn’t help but smile. I was beyond proud of our batch. Everyone seems to be in a good place right now. Perhaps our being Theresians helped form us into better citizens of this country or other parts of the world, although that could be a cause for debate, especially from our Assumptionista and Maryknoller friends, hahaha. But we’re all living the best years of our lives right this moment. We rock. And that’s all that matters.

(Originally published on Jan. 28, 2011. My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the BusinessMirror. Photo from http://www.deeannegist.com.)

Boob jobs

I HAVE a couple of issues I wanted to raise today.

First off, the reported Shalani-P-Noy split.

No one really knows the exact details of the parting of ways of the erstwhile couple.

There have been a number of rumors circulating about the purported reason(s) for the breakup: a) P-Noy is extremely busy with his job as is Shalani, being a councilor in Valenzuela; b) P-Noy is seeing someone else; c) Shalani is supposedly dating someone else; or d) all of the above.

As you may recall, as early as the July inaugural of P-Noy at the Quirino Grandstand, the grapevine went hyperactive because of persistent reports that the two had already gone their separate ways. It was only Shalani who actually denied it, but she was there at the inaugural, albeit seated behind the presidential sisters. Then later that evening, she was also at the People’s Party at the Quezon Memorial Circle, where P-Noy sang “Watch What Happens”—to her utter delight. So people thought they were still an item.

Crooned the newly elected President then:

Cold
No I won’t believe your heart is cold
Maybe just afraid to be broken again.
Let someone with a deep love to give
Give that deep love to you
And what magic you’ll see.

Sigh. What a difference three months make.

But as I wrote then (Shalani's long wait), the burden of that relationship really fell on Shalani’s pretty shoulders, now that her beau had been elected President. While she herself will no doubt be busy attending to her konsehala duties, she still would not be as occupied as the President. So like any typical girlfriend, she would, no doubt, wish they could spend what little free time they had together.

No doubt, she would’ve been racked with guilt had she imposed on P-Noy’s time. After all, there are more pressing problems to attend to than a lonely girlfriend’s issues. Then again, Shalani may also have deeply considered whether P-Noy was such a good catch that she should wait for six years until he made up his mind about marriage and her part in it. Take note that P-Noy had already said he didn’t see himself getting married while seated in Malacañang.

So as the rumors go, P-Noy was supposedly the one who called it quits, as he recognized that Shalani was no longer happy in the relationship. And quick as a pistol, he was espied to be already seemingly dating someone else. It would now seem that he was not really much into Shalani as we all thought, as much as she was into him. Her reaction when asked by media about the issue: “Next time na lang po. Thank you.” Honey, if it’s over, just say it’s over, and move on.

Perhaps, she’s still holding out a candle for the President? Only natural, especially if the woman’s in love. P-Noy, on the other hand, was already able to joke about his date with the still-unidentified mystery woman at Nuvo.

Meanwhile, it’s been pretty interesting, even downright hilarious, to read the reactions from the men on social-networking sites:

From Namby: “To me the best mistake he ever made was break up with Shalani. She deserves a better-looking boy friend.”

Pitutuy: “THAT was maybe the best thing that he did...releasing Shalani, yehehey!”

Dwayne: “eto ang pagbabago after 100 days: si pnoy at liz uy na raw; at si shalani at mayor gatchalian naman daw.”

Big Guy (on news reports of Shalani dating Mayor Gatchalian): “C’mon, guys, give the lady a break! Masyadong pakialamero kayo.”

Seriously, I feel that Shalani is better off without P-Noy. Sure, he may be a good catch because of his family name. He’s intelligent naman and sometimes witty. And, yes, he is the second most powerful man in the country (the first being Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, of course). But you can’t force yourself on someone who really doesn’t love you.

I just think that if a man is really in love with a woman, he will find the time to be with her. And if he knows that she’s the one he’d like to spend the rest of his life with, he will marry her, or do something to prove that he’s committed to her. An engagement ring would be nice. It will be an unmistakable assurance of his devotion. There will be no vagueness, no uncertainty, no waffling.

It was good while it was lasted, but it’s now time to move forward, Shalani. Go on, you have a whole world of eager adorable men waiting at your feet. God willing, you will get the man you deserve.

****

“I LIKE it on the countertop.”

“I like it on my small bed near the door.”

“I like it carried from the car, flung onto the couch, then unzipped and spread wide open....”

If you’ve been reading these mysterious messages on your female friends’ Facebook status, don’t fret, it’s just another Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign. This year it’s all about where you like putting your handbag. Spoilsport that I am, I did not post any status to that effect. During last year’s campaign, I didn’t post my bra color as asked, so no reason for me to tell you where I put my bag.

Apologies to all the girls who got oh-so-excited with this year’s campaign, but I just think it’s all silly and really doesn’t amount to much. How many of you actually went to your OB-Gyn’s and gotten a breast exam or a mammogram while participating in these campaigns? Raise your hand, anyone? No? Thought so.

Oh, I know it’s supposed to be fun and all, but the whole idea behind these campaigns is to get women thinking about how we can reduce our risks for the disease. Did you know, for instance, that 70 percent of breast cancers occur in women who have no known risk factors?

These are the other facts from the Philippine Breast Cancer Network:

* About 80 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer will be the first to be victims in their families.
* Breast cancer is the leading killer of women ages 35 to 54 worldwide.
* One out of four who are diagnosed with breast-cancer die within the first five years.
* The incidence of breast cancer has been rising for the past 30 years.

And this to me is the most shocking fact of all: “The Philippines has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer in Asia.” (For the rest of the breast-cancer facts, visit www.pbcn.org.)

While early detection may not prevent a woman from getting full-blown breast cancer, and mammography supposedly doesn’t detect as much as 20 percent of breast cancers, it is still advisable to put yourselves through these exams.

The former can be conducted by your OB-Gyn, and she can even teach you how to do it yourself. Using her hand, the doctor will try to detect any changes in your breasts, e.g., if there is some unusual hardening, or lumps. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that women beginning the age of 30 should have a clinical breast exam made by a health-care professional.

Mammography is a bit uncomfortable as your boob is squeezed between two panels before it’s given an x-ray dose to see what’s inside. ACS advises mammography for women beginning the age of 40. It may be painful, yes, but what if it can help save your life?

***For more information about breast cancer, also visit icanserve Foundation. While it’s unfortunate that the advocacy group no longer holds those successful Pink Kitchen eat-’til-you-drop fundraising activities, you may still support its programs by purchasing the goods being sold at its booth at The Power Plant Mall on all weekends of October.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Still photo from the film, Un couple parfait.)

Sound bites

POLITICS is one helluva nasty business!

You’re suddenly surrounded by groupies all trying to paint you as God’s gift to humanity, but clearly just enjoying the free food you serve after every campaign rally.

Then you have your family members at one point, trying to dissuade you from pursuing your candidacy for fear of your safety and that of the family’s. But when your victory seems inevitable, they quickly entertain thoughts of which interior designer to call and measure the windows in your new office for the new drapery.

You also have close friends giving you all sort of contrarian advice just to add more to your confusion on what policy measures to adopt once you are declared the winner. Of course, all these so-called buddies will probably be the first to line up and try to get appointments in your government, or at least get a business contract or two even before you’ve warmed your political seat.

* * * * *
Politics is all about relationships: forming new ones, letting go of those that don’t work, and trying to make the most advantage of the ones still remaining —all in the pursuit of power and administering control of governments or businesses.

And amid the cementing of alliances, there will also be treachery. Two major candidates in the last elections have already publicly experienced that bitter truth. The six-month exercise showed exactly who their real friends and supporters were, and who had stabbed them in the back for the backstabber’s own selfish goals.

For one, you had a presidential candidate who junked his own godfather's political party which he was to inherit at some point, in favor of his President's party of thieves. Unfortunately, the presidentita's own consort supported another presidential candidate in a bid to protect their own family’s financial interests and secure their protection from possible lawsuits.

Then you had a vice presidential candidate who gave his all-out support to his party’s standard-bearer, only for the latter to leave him by the wayside to his own devices. And despite the standard-bearer's own half-hearted announcements of support to his VP candidate, he declined to whip his own family members and groupies in line who supported a corrupt candidate instead.

As noted film director Jean Renoir once said: “Is it possible to succeed without any act of betrayal?”

* * * * *
IN my own case, I’m glad the electoral exercise is over.

As usual, we had to contend with the megalines, hot heads complaining about their missing names, and suffering teachers that seem to be part and parcel of every election. Thank God, the polls were generally flawless, and the results quick enough to determine clear winners, although as of this writing, the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms is still hearing allegations of electoral fraud.

But it’s understandable how many of us were simply putting our lives on the hold, declining to make major business decisions or even taking trips despite it being the summer vacation season, as we were all uneasy about the elections.

I, too, had to bump off a few appointments, and my standard response to lunch/dinner invites from friends would be “after the elections na lang ha?” just to drive home the point how much the run-up to the political exercise was dominating my life.

For another, I wasn’t able to sleep my usual eight-hour beauty rest because I was tethered to my Mac updating a blog aimed at informing the public with news, surveys and other data about their favorite candidates. Stress eating and lack of exercise were also taking its toll on my health, e.g., a three-month cough that wouldn’t quit until I finally managed to catch up on my sleep starting last weekend.

Now I’m back to my asleep-at-2am-and-awake-at-10am routine, still enough time to catch Ted Failon and Pinky Webb giggling and throwing furtive glances at each other on dzMM Teleradyo. (I must agree with Manong Johnny, who by the way, I mistakenly voted for—long story, don’t ask—when he told the radio couple, “Bagay na bagay kayo!” Manong Johnny is very happy!)

* * * * *
MY own relationships with idiot relatives and some so-called friends were also getting caught up in the heat of the debates, especially since we had supported different candidates.

How I wish I belonged to an entrepreneurial family where members gather and agree to support different candidates to protect their business interests. For instance, in one political/business family with interests in the banking industry during the Marcos regime but are also considered power brokers today, two brothers supported the fake impoverished presidential candidate, while their youngest brother placed his bet on the candidate whose only claim to fame is having famous parents.

So no matter which presidential candidate wins the election, this family’s businesses are safe. They’ve kept their eye on the bigger prize, and the entire family won. With such an understanding, no one gets hurt if one brother airs his views favoring his own candidate over his other brother’s bet, and vice versa.

Unfortunately, as I discovered in my case, some family members turned out to be users and were only loyal to whoever gave them the most funds for their campaign, instead of being grateful to the one who nurtured their careers in the first place. Yes, I hear you...that’s politics. But I simply detest such hypocrisy and their defense of the crooked politician they had attached themselves to. I now wonder if it’ll ever be safe for me to go home to my province after this.

Some of the campaign issues also divided a few buddies and me and have resulted in some irreconcilable differences. I know, I know, people always say that the safest discussion is nonpolitical talk.

On Facebook alone, a couple of long-time friends have been unmasked as traitors to the cause, and have thus been either deleted/blocked or walled out by my extremely high-privacy settings. (It’s silly, I know, but on Facebook, it’s much easier to detect who is being true to his word, or just giving you a whole lot of BS for the sake of friendship.) Some I caught telling me one thing privately, and seeking alliances and, right on their wall, saying exactly another.

I’ve been spied at bitched at, and lied to, but then, yes, I only have myself to blame for being so vocal about my own opinions.

Perhaps, when we’ve all become too busy again to care whether the President-elect takes his oath before a barangay captain or a ship captain, some of these broken fences will be mended again. Then again, maybe not.

(Unabridged version of my column May 28, 2010. Something Like Life is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror.)

Aga ikaw ba yan?

THIS old video has been making the rounds of Facebook today. It shows actor Aga Muhlach expressing his frustration with government and corruption by govt officials. Panoorin natin:



I dunno who decided to post this video originally, but I doubt that it's was an innocent post by some fan. You know me, Ms. Conspiracy Theory. Perhaps, someone is trying to float Aga's name out there as a possible candidate for an elective post? And for the Opposition it seems. Hmmm...

Da who is depressed!

Congressman Mikey Arroyo rails at Facebook

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 14:22:00 09/30/2009

MANILA, Philippines — Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo on Tuesday pushed for tighter regulation of the world’s leading social networking site, Facebook, after he claimed to be a victim of a “malicious attack” by one of its members.

“My picture was posted on Facebook with a caption saying I was shopping for wine at the height of [Storm] ‘Ondoy.’ [This] is another malicious attack on my person. It is so depressing,” Arroyo wrote in an e-mail response to the Facebook post which has appeared in several blogs. (Click here for the rest.)

Ay, kaluoy. Maybe he should see a psychiatrist to treat his depression?

Btw, the photo he refers to was taken on Sunday, the day after Typhoon Ondoy ravaged the metropolis, not on Saturday. Sorry, wrong excuse pa din.

Does he think this is China or Iran, where Facebook is regulated? Maybe his mother should just ship him there. I would if I had a son like him.

Vicki Belo sues lawyer for FB status updates

NGEK! Yep, I'm not joking, guys. And you read it first on this blog.

Cosmetologist Dr. Vicki Belo has sued lawyer Argee Guevarra for his status updates on Facebook purportedly maligning her person. Thing is, the doktora isn't even on Argee's list of FB friends, but her manager somehow managed to get herself added to Argee's list. Ikaw naman kasi Argee, masyado ka din celebrity. Kala mo fan sya anu? Oh well.

This is history-in-the-making folks! You gotta hand it to the doktora, she loves to thrive in controversy. I'm giving way to Argee's press release on this issue w/c I've edited here for publication. The doktora's handlers are free to comment or give their side on the issue. (Btw, personally, I haven't seen those FB status updates that are being referred to even if Argee is also an FB friend. But then I really am not in the habit of looking at all my friends statuses.)

Facebook user welcomes Dr. Vicki Belo's libel suit as 'first of its kind' in the world

FACEBOOK user and activist-lawyer Argee Guevarra today welcomed the libel suit filed by the Belo Medical Group and Dr..Vicki Belo against him at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Taytay, Rizal, Philippines, for his status updates and shout-outs in his private Facebook account.

Guevarra, who acts as counsel for Josefina Norcio over two botched butt augmentation procedures performed by the Belo Medical Group using the banned substance Hydrogel, was sued for libel over status update posts in his Facebook account where Guevarra called for a national patients’ boycott of Belo Clinics and for referring to Dr. Belo as “Reyna ng Kaplastikan, Reyna ng Kapalpakan” (Queen of False Pretenses, Queen of Incompetence).

Dr.Vicki Belo is a celebrity doctor previously involved in a video sex scandal. She operates upscale plastic and cosmetic surgery clinics frequented by this impoverished nation’s elite and owns various offshore clinics and booking offices in Thailand, South Korea and the United States. Dr. Belo, however, is not licensed by the Philippine Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (PAPRAS) to perform cosmetic surgery procedures. She presides over a multi-million dollar empire consisting of plastic surgery clinics, beauty salons and manufactures health and beauty products.

The suit is the first Facebook libel case in the world where the complainant does not even belong to the defendant’s network of Facebook friends. A previous Facebook libel case was, however, filed in UK where businessman Mathew Firsht sued a former school friend over a false personal profile on the site that included private information about him and untrue allegations about his sexual orientation.

The libel suit against Guevarra was commenced vicariously through Dr. Belo’s general manager who managed to add herself to Guevarra’s network of 1,472 friends.

Guevarra, a political activist previously jailed by the Arroyo regime for his participation in two failed uprisings, similarly faced a Php 300 million ($6 million) libel suit from former First Lady Imelda Marcos 13 years ago after Guevarra wrote in his erstwhile column in BusinessWorld, a series of commentaries accusing the former strongman’s wife of widespread plunder during the reign of the Marcos dictatorship. The libel suit was eventually dismissed.

Guevarra welcomes the libel suit as an opportunity to invite public attention to the hazards and dangers of cosmetic surgery clinics performing surgeries with untrained, unskilled, incompetent and unlicensed medical practitioners and advertising such services as safe and hopes to ring alarm bells at the Health Department against the proliferation of such colorum clinics which is destroying the country’s medical tourism industry and earning for the country the moniker of being Asia’s No. 1 Chop Shop. More than this, Guevarra seeks to defend himself all the way to the Supreme Court in order to elicit jurisprudence regarding internet-based libels.

For his part, Atty. Guevarra’s counsel, Atty. J.V. Bautista, a U.P. classmate of Dr. Belo, laughed off the libel suit and pointed out its material defects – “The libel case filed by Dr. Belo needs a serious facelift before it could even be dignified in any court of law. The pleading itself reads and looks like a failed surgery on the laws of libel:

First, the venue is improperly laid. It should not have been filed before the Taytay Prosecutor Office and instead filed before Makati City Prosecutor’s Office which is the place of the offended party (Dr. Belo) and where Facebook, Philippines holds Office. The filing of the case in Taytay may have sinister motives. What is so special about filing the case in Taytay?

Second, the libelous statements were printed and published by Dr. Belo’s own general manager and upon the authority given her by Dr. Belo’s estranged husband and Belo Medical Group Corporate Secretary Atom Henares, which should make said general manager a co-respondent of Atty. Guevarra. In effect, Dr. Belo should be suing her own general manager;

Third, the alleged defamatory statements are privileged communication and are per se, not libelous. Said statements of Atty. Guevarra fall under constitutionally protected exercise of free speech;

Finally, the analogous libel case of Alfonso Yuchengco/Pacific Plans vs. Philip Piccio, arising from a blog written by Mr. Piccio against Pacific Plans was ordered dismissed by the Department of Justice which ruled that there is no such thing as internet libel since Art. 355 of the Revised Penal Code strictly provides that libel can only be committed by means set forth therein (writing, printing, radio etc.) and does not include the internet. Furthermore, criminal statutes are construed strictly in favor of the accused.”

The preliminary investigation is set on Sept. 24, 2009 at the Taytay Hall of Justice, Taytay, Rizal before Asst. City Prosecutor Cheloy Garrafil.

Not quite the real thing

YOU'VE heard of Facebook. But have you heard of Facebuko?


Click here. I swear it's frigging hilarious! Ang galing mo Jonas Roque!

Happy weekend people! :)

Saying goodbye to Tita Cory

(The casket of Philippines' former President Corazon C. Aquino as it passes under the Buendia/South Superhighway flyover. Screen capture from Facebook/GMA TV News' livestreaming video.)

(Tita Cory's niche at the Manila Memorial Park. At this time, 4:06 pm, the funeral cortege is still making its way through Sucat.)


(My friend Edwin's video of Tita Cory's funeral procession as it passed by Bangkal, Makati.)

(The cortege at 6: 29 pm, along Sucat Rd. near the cemetery entrance. Broadcasters note that this was the "mainit na pagpugay ng mga tiga-Parañaque" to Tita Cory.)

(The crowd along Sucat Rd., Parañaque, 7:13 pm.)

(Kris and family at the Manila Memorial Park 8:08 pm)

(Kris blessing her Mom's remains w/ holy water. 8:15 pm.)

(Flag draped on Tita Cory's casket is prepared for folding.)

(Tita Cory's coffin is placed inside the niche beside her husband's, Sen. Ninoy Aquino. At this point, the people burst into applause with many in the crowd chanting "Cory! Cory! Cory!" What a great lady she was.)

Rest in peace Tita Cory. You have fought the good fight. It's now our turn.

* * * *
Special thanks and congratulations to GMA News TV for the live streaming of Tita Cory's funeral via Facebook. What a great public service esp. to all our kababayan abroad. Iba talaga ang Kapuso. Mabuhay kayo!

Sorry kids, it's not working for me

(Photo from the Inquirer)
The caption is as follows: MY GRANDMA, MY PRESIDENT, MY HERO Michaela Gloria, Marie Angelique and Eva Victoria (from left) mob their grandma, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, after she delivers her State of the Nation Address on Monday. It is obvious that the children of Ms Arroyo’s sons, Representatives Mikey and Dato Arroyo, idolize her, which should make up for all the “bad words” she’s been getting for her SONA. JOE ARAZAS/CONTRIBUTOR

Gamitin ba naman props pa ang mga apo? icck.

* * * *
BTW, I just sneaked a peak at a few of the presidentita's Facebook profiles put up by her office (www.op.gov.ph), and the most number of friends she could gather was 2,457 friends as of today. Even one of the many fan pages put up by her unabashed supporters such as this, only show 1,346 fans. Gee, even admin senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has more friends at 3,241. Ah yes, even the presidentita's love Sen. Mar "bad words" Roxas, has close to 5,000 friends on one profile alone.

It's sad really when you're the leader of the land and people avoid you like the plague even on Facebook. Tsk, tsk.

Trekkies have fun

OKAY, okay, I'm turning into a nut job. I've discussed the theories of how one could possibly meet one's past self and co-exist in the same space and time continuum w/ a friend over Facebook, the grandfather paradox and twin theory, etc. after watching Star Trek. It's no use. I'm hooked on the new film and can't stop talking about it. And no matter how much I try to chain it to the dark inner recesses of my being, the Inner Geek wants to be let out. Ick!

Meanwhile, you can have your fill of fun downloads and goodies on the official Star Trek movie site, and entertain others morphing your photos into some of the film's characters via Trek Yourself.

(UPDATE 015/16/09: Yes, I've already deleted the widget.)

The horrors of Facebooking

"SO in the course of setting our birthday dinner date with Jay, Sis sent me a text message, very disturbed. She complained that one of her old friends, Dionisia, 'deliberately published unflattering pictures' of her and another friend, Marlene, in Dionisia’s Facebook account.

Apparently, they were drinking that night and even if they already asked Dionisia not to, she still took photos of them (e.g., toenails, cleavage, etc.), then later uploaded them to a photo album. Sis fumed that it was an 'invasion of privacy' and added that Marlene was mightily upset with Dionisia." (Click Something Like Life for the rest.)

Inspiring!

SO this is how it went last night: I slept not so fitfully after tearing my hair out over the new BIR tax form. But I wake up this morning, and after reading emails, logged on to Facebook as usual. And whoa! All my friends had posted videos of the brilliant nobody "never-been-kissed" Susan Boyle singing, "I Dreamed a Dream" (Les Miserables) on Britain's Got Talent.

(Photo from the Daily Mirror. Read her story here)

She wowed the cynical audience and equally cynical judges Piers Morgan, Amanda something, and even grumpy old Simon Cowell! Haha. She earned three enthusiastic yes-es for her truly inspiring performance. Just goes to show dear Melanie Marquez was right: "Don't judge my brother, he's not a book!"

Btw, this is the same show w/c discovered Paul Potts. Definitely, this TV show is much bigger in the UK than American Idol, because of the wonderful surprises in the talents it uncovers. Embedding has been disabled so if you haven't seen Susan yet, just click this.

Obama inaugural via CNN/Facebook

FIRST off, this application was a way cooler gimmick than CNN's hologram interviews during election night in November. BUT, the amount of traffic to the CNN Live site caused some problems to some international viewers leading to some screen freezing. (I had to go to the TV finally to watch the proceedings there, but kept the Mac still tuned to CNN.)

(A shot of the crowd. The news reports said about 2 million visitors were expected to watch the inaugural. Check out the comments on the FB window. Just click to enlarge)

GENERALLY, it was a nice experience with most my friends still up and updating their statuses in reaction to what we were watching onscreen. I think I became too obsessed, that it seemed that I was updating my status every 15 minutes. (I counted more than 10 status updates since I started watching online at 7pm.) What was cool about the app was I could read the reactions of other people around the world as well, while they too watched the events unfolding onscreen.

(Joe Biden being sworn in as Vice President. I don't have Obama's actual swearing in as my Internet service decided to freeze that moment. Erg.)

It was a nice experiment for CNN and Facebook. Very innovative. Anyhoo, here are other screen shots of Barack Obama's inaugural via CNN/Facebook right up to the Bush couple's departure from the capitol. (I just had to make sure Dubya would leave.)

(Obama's speech: 'Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.')

(Special guests were the Tuskugee Airmen, the first African-Americans integrated into the U.S. military.)

(The Obamas and the Bidens walk the Bushes out to their waiting chopper.)

(43 waves goodbye to his fans...ngek may natira pa ba?)

(And we have lift-off folks! Bye-bye Bushie! Woop! glad that's over!)

* * * *
Meanwhile, I thought Obama's inaugural address was great. It was brief, straight to the point, and expectedly, called on all Americans to unite, and not to look at their differences as a hindrance to doing great things. He also outlined his main program of government: emphasis on scientific research, health insurance reform, addressing the economic crisis, and a push for diplomacy to settle international disputes.

I liked this part, because it kinda addresses our conditions here in the Philippines as well:

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

Read the full text of President Obama's inaugural address here.

(Online banner of New York Times tonight.)

Sure I didn't finish my work tonight, but I didn't dare miss this event. It was great to be part of history...even if it was just by watching TV or the computer feed. Congratulations U.S. of A! The world looks to you again for leadership and greatness.

I've been busy...

I have been remiss in my blogging duties as I try to balance my work assignments, running after potential interviewees, dealing with my Pop's car (which has been acting up again!), and trying to religious log into Facebook so I can extra coins to redecorate my cyberhome in the Yo-Ville application.

To top it all off, I recently started experimenting on editing photos via Adobe Photoshop Express (http://www.photoshop.com/express). While it is currently available for users in the U.S., it doesn't mean we outsiders can't log in. We can become members, as I have done, and use the truly radical features of the site. But be warned that the response time can be veryyy slow. It's still in beta so there are still bugs being tweaked therein, and you may experience frequent stalling on your web browser, especially if you have other sites opened as well. (It works best on a Safari browser btw. Amen!)

But I just love PX! It's great what one can do on a photo editing site...you can literally make colors appear where there are none in the original. And what I recently experimented with were scanned photos from my trip to Batanes back in 2003, when digicams were still not widely used. I was still using my trusty Pentax ME Super SLR on manual in those days, which is a super excellent camera, except that now it's gotten to heavy to lug around especially when I already have an great workhorse in the 3.2 mp Cybershot camera built into my Sony Ericssion K800i phone.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a little bit of what I've done on the PX site...I dunno if you can actually tell that some of the photos have been tweaked (like there are certain pics where the contrast was awful, so I had to fix that and make some colors "pop"). Photoshopping has been given a bad rap these days; PX is there to show you how amazing it can actually be.

Click http://akosistella.photoshop.com to check out my photos. Tell me what you think.

Btw I'm writing this paragraph and trying to publish this entry from my Palm Treo 680 via Opera mobile as my Bayan DSL has decided to give out tonight. Rats! Paging Bayan service support!

Reach out and touch someone (updated from my Nov. 2007 entry)

Something Like Life
Feb. 29, 2008

SOMETIME last November, I got a little pissed at Flickr because I could no longer organize my new batch of Boracay photos into a set.

To those still living in a world where they think Wordstar is the best word-processing program ever invented, Flickr is a digital photo-sharing web site where you can upload your photos, organize them, put little captions, and virtually store them all for free (well, almost). You can choose to share the photos to anyone who’s sitting in front of the computer and surfing web sites and such, or just to a small private group of friends or family.

The problem was, I couldn’t organize my new photos into another set, like an album you see, on account of my being a free-account user. Because I’m cheap and didn’t want to spend $25 a year just so I could organize and post an unlimited number of photos and sets, I searched through the discussion forum to find solutions or alternatives to the issue at hand.

Fortunately, some of the guys in the forum mentioned Facebook, the social-networking site, which they said allowed unlimited photo uploads. Hmmm...I thought that sounded cool, although I was still wary of the social-networking phenomenon that began with the establishment of Friendster and MySpace.

I’ve been invited a lot of times by Friendster users to join the site but never did, because I couldn’t figure out how you could call this person and that a “friend” without actually meeting them in the physical world, face-to-face. Some of the users had more than a thousand “friends,” according to their pages. Then there were those reports of kids committing suicide after bullied on their MySpace pages. What ultimately put me off joining these sites was this one guy whom I had never met in person but e-mailed me nonstop to view his Friendster profile, which I found creepy and annoying.

So my joining Facebook was borne out of a real need—that of wanting to have unlimited photo storage online—and partly because I thought it would be a good social experiment.

First of all, I wanted to see how many of my real friends, contacts and regular acquaintances would join the site. I found out that among my e-mail contacts (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail), there were a few who were already Facebook members. So I restricted my invites to people I actually knew, my friends, as well as a few acquaintances I was interested in knowing more.

Two days after I joined Facebook, 10 of my friends who were scattered all over the world — the Philippines, Bangkok, Northern Marianas and the US — joined. Hmmm...not bad.

Second, as I plodded through my Facebook friends’ pages, I also noticed that most of their friends were people they’ve worked with, people they grew up with, or went to school with, or even current companions and colleagues at work. There were only very few who appeared to have “friends” whom they met randomly online.

I don’t know if it’s because I belong to a more, ahem, mature generation (my youngest Facebook friend is 25, while the oldest is probably in his mid-60s) who are more protective of their privacy, but only a couple of my friends had about 130 Facebook “friends” on their lists and I, too, knew most of those people, having met them in press conferences or other social events. So they were not strangers at all. So, generally, I think Pinoys are still conservative when it comes to meeting new people, especially online.

Since signing up, I’ve had a couple of “friend requests” from people I didn’t know and thus ignored, which is probably contradictory behavior on what is supposed to be a social-networking site. I’ve also ignored requests from people I do know but don’t particularly care to reestablish any relationships with, due to unfavorable experiences with them in the past. I wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite and pretend I like you now that I’m online, right?

Third, the great thing about Facebook and perhaps other social-networking sites, is that I’ve been able to reconnect with a number of people I have not seen nor heard from in over 15 years who are now living in other parts of the globe, just because I found them on other people’s profile pages.

There’s lovable Bessie with her still long curly hair, now married and living in Shanghai with an absolutely adorable son.

Then there’s Tita Minnie, who used to be part of my barkada, but whom I gradually lost touch with when she opted to join the corporate world before going offshore. She now works in Argentina, the lucky bitch.

Then there’s Nona, who was two batches ahead of me in De La Salle University but I knew her because we both worked at the university paper. She’s now based in Sweden with a grown-up daughter—and married. While we were never particularly close back in college due to our differing political beliefs (I was mostly a fencesitter), we now constantly “feed” each other tiramisu or some other yummy desserts.

It may sound silly to those who aren’t members but on Facebook, we send cybergifts of tequila shots to our friends, feed and race one another’s pets, comment on recently uploaded photos, bless and send good karma to one another, and recently, I became a proud owner of a “Tiffany necklace.” (One friend who isn’t a member thinks that those who join such sites are just “desperate” to meet men, the poor dear.)

Of course, the site is now packed with a lot of annoying ads (it’s the only way for the site’s owners to actually earn from hosting the free service) and, technically, you won’t know what gift you’ve received from another person unless you send out an invite to at least 15 other people to use that particular gift application. So it can be a tad irritating receiving numerous invites to use an application. There’s also a lot of spam being forwarded like chain mail, videos and silly photos.

Then, if you’re like me who makes a living out of using the computer and being online all the time, there is the tendency to keep one’s Facebook page open for hours, and use several applications at the same time. A friend of mine in Boracay says she is hooked to the site, but became embarrassed about being online all the time. She finally had to disable her online status setting.

As of today, I have 56 friends on my Facebook page, which is probably small by average social-networking standards, but if you know me, that’s actually more people than I can handle in the real world on any given day anyway. I like sharing my photos with my friends, and keeping in touch, especially with those who are watching the sun rise at the same time I’m off to bed. It’s also a smart way of greeting your friends simultaneously on special holidays like Christmas and Chinese New Year.

I don’t think social-networking sites will ever replace meeting people and making new friends the regular face-to-face way. But I think these sites are powerful tools to keep relationships going, and keep friendships alive and current.

The only downside in joining Facebook is that I found out that creepy Friendster guy is also a member—and on a friend’s page. Thank God for small mercies like “block this profile.” All you gotta do is click, block and ignore.

Do you friendster or facebook? (and the phrase of the day)

OKAY, so I was sitting just sitting here transferring photos from my camera phone into my computer but I realized I couldn't upload them into another photo set on Flickr because I'm a free account user. So not wanting to spend $25 a year just to get a Pro unlimited account, I searched through the site to find out if I could delete a set of photos without erasing them completely from my photostream. Of course, there was nothing on the FAQs page nor anything in the forums advising users of solutions or alternatives to this dilemma. (Of course if you've been a long-time Mac user like me, you know that anything owned by Yahoo as well as Yahoo itself sucks.)

Fortunately, some of the guys in the forum mentioned Facebook, the social networking site, which they said allowed unlimited photo posts. Hmmm...I thought that sounded cool, although I was still wary of the social networking phenomenon which had begun with the establishment of Friendster. I've been invited a lot of times by Friendster users to join the site, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how you could call someone a "friend" without actually meeting them face to face! I've read in some newspaper stories that some users had thousands and thousands of "friends!" Then one annoying guy I don't even know just kept on emailing me to view his profile, which I found creepy. So I didn't want to join that.

(Partying at the Two Seasons resort blessing, Nov. 17, 2007. From left: Teddy, Raoul, moi, and Jenny Peñaloza. More photos at Stella in Facebook.)

Anyway, to make the long story short, I joined Facebook. It seemed a better alternative as it seemed the entire world had already joined Friendster. I felt Facebook was "cozier", if that term even applies in the cyberworld.

So this is part real, part social experiment. I want to see how many of my real friends, contacts, and regular acquaintances would join Facebook and be my "friend." I found out that among my email contacts (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail), there were a few who were already Facebook members. I restricted the invites to only people who were my actual friends, travel buddies, and fellow foodies, as well as a few people I was interested in knowing more after the initial contact in the real world. As of today, I have 10 Facebook friends from the Philippines, Bangkok, Northern Marianas, and the U.S.... not bad considering I just joined two days ago.

But as I plodded through the list of friends of my Facebook friends who had added me to their network, I've concluded that Filipinos are still a conservative lot. Most of the friends on their own lists were people they've worked with, people who they grew up with, or went to school with, or even current companions and colleagues at work. There were only few who appeared to have "friends" the Friendster-type. I don't know if it's because I belong to a more mature generation (my youngest Facebook friend is 25 I think) who are more protective of their privacy. Only one of them had about 125 Facebook friends on the list and I knew most of these people even vicariously. His friends were surely not from Timbuktu. (Of course the downside to this is I realized creepy Friendster guy is also a member of Facebook and is one of my Facebook friend's "friend." Kainis!)

Anyway, check out my photos from my vacation last weekend at Stella in Facebook. This is my first photo album and I'm still trying to get the hang of posting, poking, writing on walls and such. It's definitely a different experience worth exploring. Enjoy!

(P.S. A lot of my earlier photos are still posted on Flickr. You can check them out at Stella at Flickr.)

* * * *

RIDICULOUS HEADLINE OF THE DAY:

I just couldn't help but howl in laughter over this continuing saga between Manny Paquiao and Ara Mina. Hay naku, read on and forget the problems of this country for a minute!

Pacquiao tells Ara Mina: Ignore rumors about us.

* * * *

PHRASE OF THE DAY: Panty-quivering. To describe how a really hot guy makes a woman deliciously shiver down there just by his looks alone. Ex. Tony Leung, and that real yummy guy I met in Boracay. Oof! I invented this term and am patenting it starting today. So there.