The Zune is coming soon. November 14 to be exact. It’s Microsoft’s dip into the mp3 player pool, going head to head with the iPod 30 gb price-wise and up a little notch with the addition of wi-fi.
It looks pretty neat in the picture. And the big screen is awesome. I'm lovin' it. But is it just me or does it resemble Steve Jobs’ iPod?
Boy, no matter what we go through
You step up I'll step up too
It don't matter what the haters say
As long as you are my boo
And no matter how hard it gets
This love will have no regrets
As long as when we steppin on the dancefloor
It's me and you
The chorus of the movie Step Up’s song sums up its theme best. The movie is a love story musical that tells you that whether it’s a girl (or a boy) or your dreams that you’re chasing, go for it. Step up and grab it. And stick with it.
Channing Tatum is adorable as Tyler, the bad ass high school white boy that toughs it up with the boys of the ghetto. His lean crew of three hangs out, goes to school, and steals cars in their free time. Their pastime earns them bucks and sure tickets to the hottest dance parties in the ghetto organized by the main man of slaughtered car parts dealer.
Tyler crosses path with Norma while he does community service in the arts school that his crew ransacked where he (fortunately) was the only one who got caught. Norma plays a beat that made Tyler dance. Things got cozier between the two when Norma, seeing how agile Tyler is on the dance floor, asks him to be her dance rehearsal partner for the school’s showcase.
The movie’s theme, story, and overall concept reminds me of Save the Last Dance that starred Julia Stiles which I just watched on my iPod a few days ago. Step Up is a straightforward formula musical love story movie that doesn’t put up any pretense that it is not. Dance enthusiasts will definitely love it. I loved it. Movies like this people watch for the dance routines and the music more than anything else. The story you get because it’s simple and common. But the dancing is what will keep the audience going.
And by the way, the movie has an equally ass-kicking soundtrack as well.
Some say that the movie is “totally a mindless eye candy.” True. If not for anything else, you’ll watch it because of Channing Tatum.
He’s the clinic hunk. I saw him while waiting for my turn with the doctor last week. The pictures are a tad blurry. The stealth of my photography prevented me to focus too well.
He looks a little like Jackie Chan with his slits of eyes, fair skin, and straight oriental hair. I also assume he’s in his early 30s, which makes him so far the most mature guy I’ve featured here.
Don’t you get days when you just wanna look weird? I get that every day. So I got myself what I call freakum specs, black and white rimmed prescription eyeglasses. Would you catch yourself wearing these?
There are good days and bad days. But in several counts, yesterday was better than most good days. Better Money
Yesterday was a better Friday not just for me financially but for almost all of the people in the office. The office of the president has released the company’s most long-awaited incentive package. This is the first time they’re implementing the performance-based bonus. In the previous years, the bonuses were 14th and 15th month pays that were across the board, meaning regardless of how the employees performed, they get 1 or 2 extra months of pay depending on the overall company performance. Fortunately for me and most of my colleagues in Textbook Editorial, we got close to 100 percent of our monthly salaries.
And as expected, the pantry was empty during lunchtime. Every one was out lunching. Good for all of us. Better Health
I came back to the doctor this week for my monthly check-up. I wasn’t too enthusiastic about it because I had an inkling that my blood chemistry tests would reveal my nonchalance about my diet the last month. Add to this the fact that I’ve been stressed the past few weeks. So I went to the doctor last Wednesday, had my lab tests Thursday, and came back for the results yesterday. The biggest surprise of my day was that my blood glucose, cholesterol (good and bad), potassium, creatine, and triglycerides levels were all normal. Holy cow! I just love it. But of course that doesn’t mean I’d continue with my philandering with my diet. Although I’m not going to be too hard on myself, I want to at least show some discipline and respect my body because I want to live longer.
Better Extra-Curricular Activities
Yesterday has got to be the best practice I had with my PEP squad. I’m astounded by how they’ve improved in just a week. It was the perfect way to cap a first week’s practice. The team’s marked improvement from the last two days inspired me to continue doing the choreography, which I have been sleeping on for days now because of lack of muse. I’m looking at the middle of next week at the latest for me to complete the choreography for the whole cheer dance routine.
Better Friendships
The cherry that topped my cake of a day was a very interesting guy I met on my way home from the gym last night. Like all the good things that happened yesterday, this one’s totally unexpected. I was on my way to the train station when I saw this cute guy. Since I was feeling bold at that time, probably intoxicated with the onrush of the day’s bounty, I stared at him. He stared back. He smiled. And after awhile, he opened up a conversation. And the surprises never seem to stop. He was deaf. I could tell there was something different when he started talking to me, and then he told me that he couldn’t hear and that he was reading my lips to understand what I was saying. My mind was blown. But surprisingly, barring the obvious difficulty, we had a good conversation. He even taught me some sign language after I told him how I’ve always wanted to learn to do it. I liked his honesty, his candor, his rawness. It was surreal. We exchanged numbers and texted each other until around 3 in the morning.
I say bad days were made for us to appreciate better days. After my better Friday, I look forward to more bad days and whole lot of more better and even best days.
If you use public computers, whether to access the Internet or for school work or whatever, be careful not to leave your files strewn all over My Documents like teenagers leaving their beds undone in the morning. Why? Because people with dirty minds like me might find your not-so-flattering pictures or whatever files and post them in their websites. Screw me all you want but I’m bad. And that’s what you get for not cleaning up your, uhm, mess.
Guess what? You’re on Candid Camera!
I’m gonna keep my introduction short and just go on with the hot pics. The guy’s name is Dennis aka Tata. Hot guy. What can I say?
Here’s one for the books. In China, the recipient of the first successful penile transplant had to have it removed after 2 weeks because of the “severe psychological problems” the dong caused the man and his wife.
According to reports, the man met an accident that left him with a 1cm stump for a penis. Because the stump didn’t allow him urinate and have intercourse, the doctors subjected him to the operation, which the hospital’s medical and ethical committees approved. And where did the transplanted man meat come from? It was donated by the family of a 22-year old brain-dead man. It was 4 inches (10cm). I assume it was the flaccid length because there’s no way the brain-dead man could get that up.
The transplanted member worked fine in that it allowed its new owner to urinate. But since it only stayed with its owner for a short 10 days, the doctors weren’t able to find out if the transplanted member could stand at attention and do the deed.
I have a wild guess why the 44-year old guy and his wife suffered “severe psychological problems” with the new dong. The man must’ve had a really huge one and replacing it with a relatively puny member was psychological torture to him and his wife. He must rather have nothing than to have anything at all. It must’ve been that bad.
Now here’s a question, if you were in the man’s place, would you rather have a transplanted dong that doesn’t live up to your standards of manhood or have nothing at all?
Read articles about this story here:
Post Chronicle
Chron.Com
Guardian
“Cheerleaders are dancers who have gone retarded.”
That nugget of, uhm, wisdom comes from the movie Bring It On.
I was assigned to head the PEP Rally team and the pressure is slowly getting on to me. Gracie (I forced her to be my assistant) and I are currently putting the team together. I already have a concept, I’ve chosen the songs we’ll be using, Gracie has been researching for stunts, and I’m starting to put everything together. When JSS, the team manager, talked to me about heading the PEP Rally, he made sure I get the seriousness of snatching the win for this one. The company has consistently won the PEP Rally competitions in the past sports fest. In fact, I was part of the team that won it the last time. So I’m putting this task to heart. I hope the team members will do the same, too.
I’ll be orienting the people who have signed up for the team on Saturday. I’ll be cascading to them my expectations, soliciting suggestions, and hopefully giving them a rough description of my concept. I also would announce what I call a showcase session where I’ll be grouping the team members and make them do a predetermined routine. The showcase is important because it will tell me the team members’ athletic capabilities, the quality of their cheering voice, their dancing abilities, and their presence on the floor. From these things I’ll be able to adjust my choreography and level my expectations to what they can do. I know I’m not working with experienced cheerleaders here and I have to live with that. And I also have to consider that most of these people don’t get regular physical activity. I don’t want to shock their bodies by making them dance their asses off and do cartwheels and double back flips.
I’m pretty excited about this. More than anything, it’s because I’ll get to practice Master Sun Tzu’s lessons on managing troops in the battle field.
I hate cleaning my room because I always find things I’d rather lose. But my college yearbook turned out to be a different story. After dusting the blessed thing (and after giving my allergic rhinitis a not-so-gentle tug), I lay in bed laughing my guts out looking at the goofy faces of batch 95 of the UP College of Mass Communication. And the tsunami of memories just all came rushing back in!
Of course the first page I’d look for is my page. Tangna! 6 years was a long time indeed! Look at all the weight I lost!
Now these three guys were (some) of my big time college crushes. Syempre they didn’t know! One of the good things about college is that you can behave like high school coeds all you want without getting flak for it. The top guy’s cuter in person. But the next one’s moreno looks gives him an irresistible sex appeal. The last guy’s boyish charms are disarming.
This girl I remember oh so well because of her unique name. She’s called Peegy. Not it’s not pronounced “piggy.” Say the last syllable with a “j” sound. Peegy. Oink.
This girl I never realized I actually worked with until yesterday! But she’s resigned now.
These next pictures are some of the more recognizable of the batch since they’re working (or have worked in some cases) on national TV.
Channel 2 TV reporter Dominic Almelor
Director Lyle Sacris
Channel 5 TV reporter Anne Pineda (I don't know if she's using another name.)
Karen Padilla used to be a TV reporter for channel 2. She was my classmate in, ahem, ballet.
Channel 7 TV reporter Carlo Lorenzo
And who doesn't know Ricky Kwek? She used to work as a newscaster for Channel 2 before, i heard, she got married. She was the unanimous winner of our college yearbook's "Most Likely to Become a Socialite."
Saturday has got to be one of the most tiring days I’ve had in years! But seeing over ten thousand teachers converge at the Araneta Coliseum, the smiles on their faces and their words of gratitude were enough to compensate for a hard day’s work.
Diwa, the textbook publishing company that I work for, staged its biggest Tribute to Teachers ever last Saturday at the Big Dome. Every Diwa employee volunteered to help out in the event as ushers, stage hands, booth managers, and runners. We were there as early as 9 in the morning to prepare for the program which was scheduled at 1:30 in the afternoon. I was one of the people assigned as ushers. From where I was (literally and figuratively), the event was just overwhelming. I don’t know how else to describe it.
This is a view of the arena before they let people in.
I was just staring at this whachamacallit hanging at the center of the arena while waiting for the gates to open.
The coliseum started filling up at 10:30 in the morning.
Sen. Mar Roxas was among the speakers in the event. The others were Sandy Prieto-Romualdez of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Butch Jimenez of PLDT/Smart; Sec. Jesli Lapus of the Department of Education; noted speaker Francis Kong, Roselle Ambubuyog, the first visually impaired summa cum laude from Ateneo; and Dennis Waitley, a renowned speaker and trainer on self-esteem.
Mitch Valdez, ace singer/comedienne and president of the Organisasyon ng mga Pilipinong Mangaawit (OPM), was hilarious! It was the first time I watched her perform live and she was magnificent.
Bituin Escalante was, as always, The Chateuse Extraordinaire. She sang a medley of songs for the teachers toward the end of the program.
These are pictures taken from the stage. How the hell did I get there? The finale of the program included the employees going up the stage and singing. There. I could tell your face without batting an eyelash that I sang (and swayed) on stage at the Araneta Coliseum. Beat that. hehehehe
