Kailangan mo ba ng webspace?

If you do, just ring me up or beam me a message.  I've got bajillions to spare.  =P

YM: blitz_krieg47 (I'm mostly invisible, so just message away)
Text:  09266830106 (text ka lang, i'll find a way to reply :P)
Email: jm.tuazon@gmail.com

Libre pramis.  =)  Friendship ang kapalit.  Wahaha.  Anubayun.  Bangag ko na talaga.  Pero seryoso, sayang kasi yung space ko, di ko masyado nagagamit.  =P  Best if you have a domain and you know FTP.  =)

Literary Challenge: Six-Word Short Stories

Let's keep our creative juices flowing this summer!

While the usual dose of short stories compose of lengthy paragraphs and chapters that never seem to end, the real challenge lies in achieving extremes:  the longest and the shortest.

Ernest Hemmingway was challenged to write a short story using only six words.  This is what he came up with:  "For sale: baby shoes, never used."  Now you can see how a few powerful words can create a world of stories.

The challenge is this:  think up of six words that can be weaved into one such story.  Remember, it should communicate a central thought and should be understood by the reader.  Now, that's a challenge!

Here're some more examples to keep you thinking:

• Irvine Welsh: "Eyeballed me, killed him. Slight exaggeration."
• Robert Olen Butler: "Saigon hotel. Decades later. He weeps."
• Norman Mailer: "Satan--Jehovah--fifteen rounds. A draw."
• Tobias Wolff: "She gave. He took. He forgot."
• David Lodge: "I saw. I conquered. Couldn't come."
• Augusten Burroughs: "Oh, that? It's nothing. Not contagious."

Here's my first try:  Upstairs Room.  Footsteps.  Screams.  Sixth Sense.

Day 07 - Of Slow Days and New Skills

I was so tired last night that I wasn't able to write my journal entry for the day. Anyway, pardon this late entry, but here goes.

I met Marlon again at Kamuning Police Station at around 10am, but sadly we didn't find any stories there. So we headed straight to Camp Karingal to look for possible news stories.

When we arrived there, still, there were no good stories. Only minor reports here and there. We talked to the colonels and seargents present for follow-up information on cases we did last week, but still, no word. God, this is a tough day, I thought.

We headed to a different division of the QCPD this time: the District Tactical Operations Center. This is where all the dispatch goes through. We browsed through the journal and lifted a few reports here and there. We even found the report on Sir Marlon's co-beat reporter having her bag stolen but subsequently recovered somewhere in Cubao, Quezon City.

Stories in hand, we proceeded as usual to the NUJP Headquarters and wrote our stories. Sir Marlon assigned me to do this story on a robbing incident in QC, and guess what? Only minor editing! I think I'm getting the hang of this. Sir Marlon always gave me reminders about Inquirer's style and certain ways to write certain stories, so somehow I get an idea how to write different topics whenever I encounter them.

Too bad that story wasn't published. Hehe.

When I was about to go to the office, Sir Marlon informed me that a good story slipped under our watch, so he contacted several people here and there and pieced the story. It's a semi-scoop because only a few broadsheets graced the story in their pages. Sir Marlon's quick thinking can now be seen here.

The MRT ride to the office was surprisingly pleasant. I guess it's because we were able to finish at the Police Beat early. The train's weren't that packed, the aircon was full blast, I was sitting inside, and the cab I was in really smelled good, like newly-cleaned good. I also noticed that the interiors were newly-painted. Either I'm too happy a commuter or the lack of a companion during these rides (Claire!!!) is taking its toll on me. Hehe.

Upon reaching the office, I immediately started my work. Today is the day I learn new skills. I sent a fax message to some of the schools asking for official communication letters from our office regarding our Tuition story. So I asked Ate Cyril to teach me how to use the fax machine.

Funny thing is, I'm usually perceived as the techy guy, yet I don't know how to operate a freaking fax machine. Haha. I guess backwardtechnophobic, in a way. =P

After sending the fax messages, Ate Kate asked me to photocopy some papers to be sent to the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards Commission. At first I noticed her a bit apprehensive to give me clerical work, but when she asked, I said with whole zest that I'd be glad to the job. So she taught me how to handle the office photocopying machine and woop-dee-doo! I was photocopying by myself in no time. Aside from some minor mishaps, I guess I did well with that one.

So, two new skills developed today: Faxing (if there's such a word) and Photocopying. Hehe.

Several minutes after the photocopying task, Sir Gani Yambot came to our office and gave a sheet of paper to Ate Kate. She passed the paper to me and asked me to look for reviews, summaries and other important articles about the book written on the paper. Whew. So off to research I went.

The book is entitled "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read." I think this is an interesting book, because it says that reading a book is just as important as non-reading it. Meaning, the collective importance of a certain book in the world's history plays a significant role in the discourse about the book. Interesting, eh?

The next task that landed on my lap is to look for statistics about families consisting of six members who are taxpayers in the Philippines. Whew, this is a tough one, and unfortunately I wasn't able to find information from the archive. Good thing Ate Kate was able to find something on the net.

While working on some task, Ma'am Miner, my supervisor, asked what date the graduation would be. So I told her UP's graduation will be on Sunday. She then stared in space in bewilderment and asked, "Eh pano si Claire? Di sya aattend ng graduation?" I just had to laugh the thing off and told her we're not graduating yet this year.

Today was a bit slow, and not having a co-intern is dawning upon me. Somehow, there's this comfort in knowing that you're not alone in whatever taste of heaven or pile of shit you're in. With Claire gone, I'm practically on this thing alone. Sigh... I know it's not fun to mope but what the hey! Haha.

Hours covered today: 6 1/2 hours on the field, 4 1/2 hours in the office (total of 11 hours)

On Unrequited Love

Hi guys!  I'm just here to ask your thoughts about this certain topic that I know, in one time or another, has befallen us all.  What do you think of Unrequited Love?  I think a healthy discussion on this matter would be beneficial to us all.  Wala lang, just one of my whims.  Sakyan nyo na lang!  =P

Anyway, on topic:

Is it right to blame your unrequited love for not reciprocating the love/attention you're giving her/him?  Or is the act justified because as they say in Filipino, nagmamahal ka lang naman?  Wala nga namang masama sa pagmamahal.

Pero do you think one should draw the line somewhere?  If yes, when and where?  Who's the victim and who's the one who can't get a clue?  The one who doesn't seem to notice, or the one who doesn't seem to understand?

A penny for your thoughts.  =)

Day 06 - Of College Tuition Rates and Creepy Office Silence

Today's the day I tread this internship trail alone. Claire has gone off to Eastern Europe on a two-week family vacation she couldn't squeeze herself out of, and so I'm stuck to being the single intern for the rest of my internship hours.

Sir Marlon texted this morning, amid alarm clocks buzzing at 9am, that we won't meet today. So off I went to get some more precious snooze which I'm missing a lot on these days. But somehow, I couldn't get myself to go back to sleep and got up instead.

I decided I'd go straight to the office for the 1pm-9pm shift. I passed by UP first for some errands but found out that offices were closed, thanks and no thanks to the four-day work week being implemented in the university. Frustrated, I hopped on an MRT jeep and went straight to the office instead.

Somehow taking the trip to the office alone was a bit... depressing. No, wait, that's such a heavy word. It's not that depressing, but more like, lonely. Ugh Claire why did you have to go??! I'm having withdrawal symptoms of you. Hahaha. Just kidding.

When I arrived at the office, only Ate Cyril and Ate Eliza were there. Ate Kate and Ate Schatzi (wahoo, finally found out what the spelling of her name is!) were on their respective day-offs. I sat on my post and read the newspaper. Minutes later Ate Cyril gave me some tasks to accomplish.

Sandiganbayan Ate Cy asked me to call this Sandiganbayan division and ask them about the status of a certain case. Whew. First task of the day is quite chilling to the spine. I looked for their telephone number online and called their office. At first try, I was transferred to another line. On the second try, I was able to talk to someone from the division but she transferred me to another lady, maybe somebody of authority. I asked her about the status of this certain case and, in all adult-ish tone and conviction, she said that she can't give me that information and it would require a letter of permission for us to obtain it. I told her I wasn't looking for details, but merely the status of the case. She said, I can't answer that positively or negatively for you." So yeah, that was a major bitch slap, but what the heck. I promptly thanked her and hung up the phone.

Somehow there's this air of confidence that using the name of a major broadsheet gives you whenever you talk to officials or anyone famous for that matter. When I mentioned that I was from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, I somehow felt that the voice on the other line turned from soothing calm to a bit nervous. Haha. More on this later.

After that task, Ate Cyril told me to start calling colleges and universities to ask for their tuition rates. We'll run a story on this sometime soon, so we need to get the figures.

Colleges and Universities So off to calling people I went. At first try, I was a bit nervous. I was stammering between words and was sweating like crazy because the office aircon was only half-on. I didn't know what to say when confronted and had to think of quick ways to evade my integrity being questioned.

After a dozen calls, I got used to it. As I said a few paragraphs before, the name of the company somehow gives you that much-needed push. Whenever I introduce myself as someone from PDI, the voice on the line would either turn concerned, listening, or, as I said above, a bit nervous. Hehe. Some of the people I talked to gave me the information I needed. Some of them told me to call so-and-so to obtain the information. Some, still, asked for formal letters of communication before revealing vital data that they have. It's okay, I understand.

Somehow, I got a feel of the usual people from two ends of the line: one, I felt like a citizen being trapped in this bureaucracy of things, judging by the number of times I've been passed from person-to-person, department-to-department. It's a bit teeth-gritting at first but just like before, I got used to it. Two, I felt like a call center agent with the number of times I had to repeat myself to n number of people just to get the information I needed. Again, it's a gruelling task, but I guess somebody has to get used to it.

There's also one more thing I was forced to get used to: the different accents and tones and enunciations of several voice recordings whenever I call their schools. I'm telling you, this part is the most gruelling of all! I'd cringe at the way they'd pronounce a certain word, and would just have to laugh at the different tones they used. One was a bit alluring, others, well, just plain irritating. Haha. But the one from San Beda definitely stood out. While other schools would open the line with "Welcome to chever chever school, if you know the extension number...," San Beda's trunkline welcomes you with "Peace be With You." I swear I almost fell off my seat when I heard that manly voice say Peace be with You on the phone. It felt... weird. Haha. Like God talking directly to me, except in an eerily-deep manly voice. You should try it!!! Search for the number in google. Hehe.

After being the office call center agent for the afternoon, I ended most of my tasks at 5pm, since offices were closed already. Ate Cy and I prepared the letters of communication to be sent to the different schools tomorrow. After that, it was just all laid back tasks here and there.

And the office became eerily quiet at around 7pm, when only three of us were left in the department. I'm so not used to this.

Hours covered today: 7 1/2 hours

HEEEELP!

Good evening!

Friends, family, countrymen, people sa tabi-tabi... nais ko pong hingin ang inyong tulong.  I know that some of you know that I write for a youth/family magazine entitled CodeRed (subscribe kayo!  Maganda sya pramis.  ^__^).  We are a quarterly publication that focuses on different values that the youth should ideally possess.  Yes, we have Christian/Catholic roots (because our publisher are the Salesians of Don Bosco through Fr. Armand Robleza) but our stories transcend religious boundaries, and can extend to as far as social responsibility.

In every issue, I do a story focusing on the issue's theme (most of the time it's a certain value like Hope, Justice, Community, Belongingness, etc.)  My editor has a knack for right timing, because most of the time, she sends my assignments whenever I'm in the busiest time of my life (say, Finals Week or Presentation Week).  Good thing that for the next issue, she sent it to me just now, when I'm a bit lax with school even though busy with internship.

Now, onto the part where I need your help.  Here's my assignment for next issue:
YOUR ARTICLE: “It takes a village to raise a child.”
• Feature a young achiever whose integrity has been shaped by the community he grew up in.  (take note: not his family.)
• Highlight his community involvement and how he became more aware of his goals in life.
• Maybe you can find someone from a minority tribe who left his roots and found himself a better person in the city; OR vice versa; someone who left a comfortable city life to volunteer in a remote area (someone like of Jika David.)
• Please include relevant photos.

Since ganito ang theme, I'm thinking something more on the lines of somebody leaving his bonggacious lifestyle to pursue social work or community development or cultural integration elsewhere.  I'm also thinking along the lines of The Coconuter, what do you think?  Or pwede rin namang SK Kagawad/Chairman, since community involvement, no?

Uggghhh...  this is excruciating.  Please do email me or send me a text message (you know my number) if you happen to know someone who fits the description.  May libreng chocolate saken ang malaki ang maitutulong.  Hehe!  =P

Day 05 - Of Bad, Bad Doctors and The Pope Wearing Prada

What a way to conclude my first internship week.

But before we proceed, may I just express sadness over the fact that yesterday's shift will most probably me my last internship shift with Claire, because just this morning she went on a FREAKING WESTERN EUROPEAN TOUR and she won't be coming back until two weeks or so.  By the time she returns, I'd have already finished working my internship hours.  So yeah, basically, it's a bummer that my partner-in-internship-crime won't be here anymore, and what sucks even more is that it's all because she'll be touring one of the parts of the world I've been dreaming to visit one of these days.  Wuh.  Anyway, enough with the bitterness, let's proceed to the kwento, okay?

Before heading to the Kamuning Police Station 10 in the morning, I dropped by MassComm first to fetch a few documents I needed for the internship.  Apparently, both Claire and I were too lax about our internship that we forgot about certain documents we had to submit.  After MassComm, which was eerily quiet that day, I rode a bus at Central on my way to Kamuning.

Unfortunately, when we reached East Avenue, traffic was really bad.  Claire called and asked where I was, and we found out we were about meters apart from each other, stuck in traffic.  By the time we got to EDSA things got even worse, so when the bus was a stone's throw away from the station, I just decided to walk the remaining distance to the station.

When I arrived, Claire was already there and we proceeded to the Press Office, where we saw Sir Marlon.  Apparently the blotter wasn't available for viewing at that time, because the policemen are doing something with it.  I didn't know, and we didn't bother to ask.  So we decided to proceed to Camp Karingal instead.

Camp Karingal is a quaint, little police camp tucked in the middle of a not-so-posh village in Quezon City.  One would be surprised this strange little place actually housed a camp with real policemen, real guns, real criminals inside their prisons.  When I first got here I was surprised--because there were residents (considered illegal settlers by the camp) at the back portion of the camp, so anybody could go in and out of the camp without being suspected of anything.  Back then I thought police camps are exclusive to policemen and their ranks.  Camp Karingal was different.

We proceeded to our usual stop, CIDU, and browsed the blotter.  There was a report about two motorists being gunned down along Litex Road; then there was the shocker of the day--a 13-year-old boy killing another 13-year-old, no less than his friend.

When we found the report, we--all four of us--were abuzz with interest and curiosity.  Claire and I immediately took notes.  Once in a while somebody would be bemused by a certain detail in the report--an ice as big as his palm, complaints of headaches, possibilities of internal hemorrhage.  For us, who were merely there to look for stories, this was just another case of police incident worthy of being published in the papers.  Everything changed when we turned our backs and saw, to our utter horror, the 13-year-old suspect, sitting just behind us, his mother in tow, apparently tired from all the crying.

And not only that.  Seated beside the two was--to more of our aghast--the mother of the victim, feeling lifeless from all the tears cried just hours before.  I instantly felt bad.  In front of us is a mere document reporting the incident, and just behind us are the actual people involved.  I couldn't have felt more guilty for being so insensitive about some of my comments a few minutes ago.

Since the people were there anyway, we decided to ditch the blotter and interview them instead.  The mother of the suspect had crimson swollen eyes, apparently from crying.  But she managed to speak, anyway.  I don't know why but from the look in her eyes I felt really bad.  When we interviewed the mother of the victim, she looked lifeless but was surprisingly able to narrate the incident that transpired.  The usual inquiry into the details of the incident transpired.

Here's the 411:  Boy1 was asked by his mother to buy some ice from a nearby sari-sari store.  On his way home, he chanced upon Boy2 playing water guns with the little kids.  When he passed by, intentionally or unintentionally, Boy2 doused him with water from his water gun.  Boy1 retaliated and hit Boy2 in the arm and on the head.  Boy2 suffered a gaping wound in the head.  They both headed home.  Boy2 complained of headaches and was vomiting blood.  Mother of Boy2 was still in the hospital (where she works), and was being texted that her son has a severe headache and was vomiting.  She wasn't told her son had a wound from being hit by ice.  When she came home, she found out what happened and rushed the boy to the nearby district hospital.  But the mother thought better and took the boy to the hospital where she works, but they were given estimates of the projected costs of the operations, asking if they can pay that much money.  Seeing as to how they're being intimidated because they didn't have the money, they transferred the boy to PGH.  Unfortunately imaging devices in PGH were all broken, so they had to order CT Scan outside.  But it was midnight.  They had no money.  They couldn't do anything.  The boy died at around 4:30 in the morning.

Mind you, they live in Novaliches and they took the boy all the way to PGH in Taft because of the incidents they had to grapple with.  Somehow I took pity on the mother, because had quick actions been taken instead of intimidating people with large sums of money and the possibility of not being able to pay, then the boy would have survived the tragedy.

Then again, I can't go on pointing fingers at anybody.  For all I know I don't understand the intricacies of the medical profession, but somehow I feel that giving highfalutin estimates of probable hospital costs isn't at all proper.  And what's even more disappointing is the fact that the mother works in that hospital (although not as a medical crew, but as maintenance).  They could've just taken the bill from the mother's salary or whatever.  Don't they have hospitalization benefits for their employees?  It's disheartening, really.

After interviewing the mother, who miraculously didn't break into tears (thank God 'cause I would've cried as well), both Claire and I felt... lifeless.  Claire was almost in tears when we rode the taxi.  I didn't know what to do.  I wanted to scream.  I thought, if this is the kind of things I'd have to get used to at work, then I don't want to get used to it at all.  I secretly wished not being assigned in the Police Beat when I finally get to work, because I don't want to endure that kind of torture just to get a good story.

This incident got my mind really thinking.  Is it the pursuit of a good story, or the need to air out people's basic needs to the public?  With this recent incident, we decided to focus on the angle that the mother was practically refused hospital care because they didn't have the money.  Sigh... good thing I wasn't assigned to write this one, otherwise I'd find it really hard.

So we went back to the NUJP headquarters, two stories in hand, feeling defeated, hungry, lifeless... we worked on our stories and by 2:30 PM were already finished.  I waited for Claire to finish her survey story, then we strode off to the office.

If it weren't for Claire's quick thinking, we would've been run over by approximately three vehicles while crossing different streets because of my absent-mindedness.  What can I do?  I've had merely 4 hours of sleep yesterday and all I gulped to keep me awake were one can of nescafe iced coffee and a large cup of Coke Zero from 7-Eleven.

When we arrived at the office, sleepy and all, Ate Kate gave us our tasks.  Claire looked for articles about NAIA and PIATCO, and I helped Ate Kate search for figures (for Sunday Inquirer Magazine's Figure It Out section) about Philippine Festivals.  It was quite an easy task but once again, I drowned in all the numbers I couldn't make sense of.  That was basically how the night went.

In between, however, we gobbled tons and tons of food.  In one instance, Ate Shiatsi (somebody tell me the correct spelling of her name!!!  Haha) received a call from a higher-up, telling her to go outside.  She quickly grabbed pen and paper, thinking she'll be given an assignment to do.  When she returned, she said, "Ate, Kate, mukhang mahirap nga." referring to the task at hand.  When we saw her, she was bearing a box of pizza on her hands.  "Mukhang kailangan natin ng tulong nila..." referring to us interns.  Hehe.  Teamwork is fun, especially when food is involved.

A few hours into my work and I received a call from a friend who's also in the office, Gibbs Cadiz.  I've known Gibbs from the blogosphere and didn't even realize he's a Lifestyle Editor for the Inquirer until a few months back.  He told us to come over the lifestyle department and grab some dinner.  Obedient interns as we are, Claire and I obliged.  We came back with two heaps of different food, plus an awesomely delectable cake to boot (the one that melts in your mouth that I've heard so much of).  Now I know what they meant when they said that working in the PDI Office can really make you gain weight.  I now understand why that spiral staircase from hell was placed there.  Hehe.

The remaining hours of the night was spent laughing over an assignment given to Ate Shiatsi.  She was asked to research about the Pope wearing red Prada shoes.  The first time I heard it, the only thing that came to mind was The Devil Wears Prada. So I told them, if we go by the screwed logic of the universe, since The Devil Wears Prada and now we know that the Pope wears Prada, does it mean that the Pope is The Devil??!  Sacrilegous Horrors!!!  Hahaha.  Of course I was kidding.

All in all the first week of internship had been a blast.  If you've been religiously following this internship blog, then you already know that even though we break our backs to work off 12 hours, we're still happy with what we're doing.  Of course there's some amount of sugar-coating added to it ('cause hello, jumping from one city to another in a mass transit system definitely isn't that fun), I believe the general feeling is more of happiness and fulfillment.

Now I can say that I'm more than prepared to tackle the week ahead!  (Sad, though, because Claire won't be around)

Protected: Day 04 - Of Elderly Innards and Surveys from Hell

* cross-posted from http://lfs.jmtuazon.net *

Dear Friends, before reading this entry, you may have noticed that this is an entry for certain people only.  Over at my internship blog, it is protected (password is thelordisgracious).  This is because there are some parts of this story that are quite confidential, so I'm not gonna risk anything by posting this publicly online.  I only set this entry for viewing of Journ people only, so that I can share some of my experiences.  Owkie?  Now read on.  Hindi naman ganun ka-grabe eh, nakakangarag lang.  Oo, paranoid na.  =P

So if last day was a very slow day, today is one haggard day.  But despite all the workload we had to work off, suprisingly, I had so much fun today.

The day started at the usual stop: Kamuning Police Station 10 at 10am.  I arrived a little bit earlier than Sir Marlon.  When he arrived, we checked the blotter but nothing interesting caught our fancy.  We hung out at the QCPD Press Office for a little while with all the other journalists there.  It was my first time inside the press office, and I was quite stunted to find out that some of the press people who were there were merely playing games on the computer!  Uhmm... something definitely wasn't right there.

Because there wasn't a good enough story in Kamuning, we decided to go to Camp Karingal already.  Jetz, Kuya Marlon's friend who's a reporter for Abante, let us hitch a ride with him again.  With the two's small talk inside the vehicle, I found out (more like, concluded) that--get this--Jetz drives the FX we were riding that very moment as sideline after working his beat.  I was like, owkeeeiii... But somehow I understood his situation.  Whoever said that work in the media is a lucrative profession must be from another planet.

In any case, when we arrived at Camp Karingal, we checked the blotter and found a shooting incident involving a tricycle driver.  Sir Marlon let me took notes but a police officer took the blotter for a while, so we asked for a printed copy instead.  Jetz asked me to photocopy it, and so I did.

After getting the shooting incident story, Jetz went ahead while me and Sir Marlon went to the 2nd floor of CIDU to wait for the Chief (Supt. Mabanag).  When he came out, Sir Marlon asked some updates about the RC Cola robbery.  This is the part where I got very freaked out because they were casually talking of having to "kill" the suspects.  Here's how their conversation went:

Marlon:  O ano sir, titirahin nyo na ba?Mabanag: Oo, kaso di ko pa alam kung anong oras eh.Marlon: Sir ang gawin nyo pugutan nyo ng ulo, front page yun!Mabanag: *laughs* Haha!  Matutuwa media non pero lagot kami non!

Okay, so that wasn't a direct quote but you pretty much get the idea.  While they were talking about having to "eradicate" the suspects, I quietly cringed at my seat and sank low.  I got really freaked out!  I mean... so the stories were true, I thought, the Police really does wipe out criminal suspects, just like that.

Moments later, however, I discovered that they were merely talking in jest.  Chief Mabanag later explained that they were still planning their tactic on how to get around capturing the suspects, whether they attack outright or they let the suspects fire back.  Whew.  Boy, was I relieved!

The chief then invited us for lunch after that small talk.  At first I was quite uncomfortable, being the ideal student and all, but I dug in anyway.  I didn't eat that much but not because I was having an ethical dilemma, but because Claire so succinctly related to me how she was invited for lunch yesterday and they were kidding her that the meat served was double-dead goat meat.  And looking at the food served today, nothing else came to mind but GOAT MEAT.  So yeah, even if I don't really eat fish a lot it felt like it was the only food in the world for me.

Sir Marlon later told me how he's a bit frustrated at goody-two-shoe reporters who refuse to eat lunch and dine with their sources.  Sir Marlon told me that somehow, you'd have to get close to your sources, because it is in these unguarded moments that they sometimes reveal information that may be vital to your story (but of course, you can't quote them, you only take them as leads to pursue an angle).  Okay.  Major ethical dilemma right there.  I can't wait to ask this to Sir Teodoro come next sem.

We hung out at CIDU for a little while because they said that the operations against the RC Cola robbers would commence any time that day.  So we stood by for a moment, hoping that the operations would start any time soon.  But come 2PM, we dropped our pens and paper and called it a day instead, because the deadline for news summaries is at 230PM and we need to type our stories fast.

Before going out of the Camp, we proceeded to the Traffic Sector office to check if there are new stories that came in.  Fortunately, there was one, about an old lady doctor being run over by a bus somewhere in Cubao.  Unfortunately, when we asked, there was no report of it yet.  Seconds after some policemen arrived, carrying a man in handcuffs, and the people told us that was the driver of the bus who ran over the old lady.  Okay, jackpot! I thought.  We interviewed the man and I took some notes.  We also interviewed the investigator.  I was a bout to get a picture of the commotion when Sir Marlon signaled me not to take any pictures.  Okay. So that is why there are no pictures today.  Hehe.

So yeah, the incident was about this 75-year-old lady who got run over by a bus near 20th Avenue.  The gruesome parts?  The lady's innards fell out of her body, onto the street.  Yes, liked those squished rats, cats and dogs we usually see on the street.  The sad part is that the driver denied the allegations, saying he didn't notice the old woman.  Okay, I was thisclose to saying Bawal ang Tanga!!! to that driver, because hello, how could he not have felt a bump when he ran over something?!  That was a freaking woman under your vehicle!!!  Then again, no judgments.  The case is still under investigation.  Hehe.

Marlon told me to write this story.  So we went back to the NUJP headquarters and wrote all the stories we got that day.  In between our tasks, Marlon got calls and texts from people about the Trinoma incident.  Apparently, it slipped under our watch.  But thank God Sir Marlon had contacts here, there and everywhere and we somehow got details of the incident.

Funny incident:

JM:  Sir Marlon, do you think I should write that the old lady's innards fell out?Marlon: *thinks deeply*  Uhhmmm, huwag na siguro.

Okay, that's how morbid I was thinking this afternoon.  After writing my story Sir Marlon edited it (take note:  heavily!), and we filed it to the day desk.  This concludes the first part of the day!  It was 4pm.

I only had 1 hour travel time to Makati.  I skedaddled on the way to the MRT to catch the train fast.  For more haggardness, I was really hungry at that time because I wasn't able to eat lunch that much during the chummy moments with the policemen.  So before going to the office, I dropped by McDo for a takeout.  It was 4:50 pm, and the counter person in McDo didn't seem to mind.  Sinungitan ko nga, ambagal eh!

It was 4:55 when I went out of McDo, and I ran all the way to the office.  I was gasping for air when I arrived at the department.  It was 4:58.  I ate my food and Ate Kate gave us our assignments for the day.

Remember yesterday being a slow day?  Well, lo and behold, we got dumped with so much work today that I had to take some home just to be able to finish them.  Ma'am Miner, who wasn't in the office that time and only left a note for us, asked us to dig up survey stories in 2007 and 2008, evaluate them, look for common features, compare them with the raw press release, define 'margin of error' and for more, rewrite the published article and give more human face to it.

Before anything else, let me remind  you that 2007 was election year.  JUST IMAGINE HOW MANY SURVEYS CAME OUT THAT TIME.  So Claire and I read each other's minds and subconsciously split the workload.  Without even talking to each other, I searched for Pulse Asia surveys while she searched for SWS surveys.  Later on Ate Kate told us we could split the workload.  When we asked each other how to split it, we found out we already did!  So yay.  Great minds think alike, they say.  Hehe.

In between juggling our tasks we watched Kristy Leigh Cook say goodbye on American Idol, eat a Kenny Rogers dinner and reminisce Ate Kate's and Ate Eliza's masscomm days.  It was 8:30pm and Claire and I aren't even done with our work, so Ate Kate told us to bring it home and e-mail our output to her.

Yay!  Today was a very productive day, and it's still not over, hellow.  I'm still not finished with my article.  Oh wel.  The best part of it all is Claire and I got to chat in her car on the way home, and it was fun reminiscing what happened today.  The bestest part, I believe, is that we did so many work but in the end, we were quite happy about all that we did.  It was very fulfilling.

The sad part is, Claire's gonna leave on Saturday na!!!  GRRRRR.  Tomorrow's her "last day" by far, and she'll be back May 7/8 na. In short, I'll be doing this stint for 2-3 weeks by myself.  Yeah.  I'll try to have as much fun as I could without Claire.  Ugh.  It's gonna be so different and not to mention difficult on Monday without her.  Oh well.  I guess life's all about making do with what you have.

Hours covered today: 7 hours on the field, 4 hours in the office (11 hours in all)

Day 03 - Of Scholarships and The Day I Got Published

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Day 02 - Of Showbiz Police Reporting and CommRes all over again

** Cross-posted from http://lfs.jmtuazon.net **

*Subtitled Of 75 pesos and the Will To Survive

Today was a pretty eventual day for me and Claire.  Today we officially start to do two shifts of work--one for Police Beat in the morning/afternoon and one for the Research Department of the paper in the evening.

The day started off with a trip to the Quezon City Police District Station 10--erstwhile known as the Kamuning Police Station, the epitome of blood and gore when it comes to the kinds of crimes reported.  The call time was at 9am but basing from the experience yesterday and Claire's stories from last week, I decided to be quite late.  When I arrived, I learned that...

I was still freakin' early.  I had to wait for Sir Marlon for another fifteen minutes or so pa, so I sat by the desk officer's--what else--desk and waited for Sir Marlon.  Soon after all kinds of gruesomeness started coming into the station, most remarkable of which was this guy with a bruised (and take note bleeding) eye that sat beside me on the bench.  I wanted to cringe and transfer seats but there were no other chairs around, so I just sat around praying Sir Marlon arrives soon or the earth'll swallow me right then and there.

When Sir Marlon arrived, he had a smirk on his face and asked why I wasn't in the Press Office, if I even know the place.  Of course I told him I wasn't aware there was a press office because it was my first time there.  He introduced me to another reporter-friend of his named Jet, who's a reporter for Abante.  We proceeded to the intelligence section of the station to look at the blotter.

Our stories today involved the parents of Mickey Ferriols figuring in a vehicular mishap along EDSA and some rumble in a nearby club which we didn't pick up because no suspects were arrested.  This is when Sir Marlon told me the news that the Nino Muhlach story Claire did yesterday was published in the Inquirer (yes!  Look for it in the Metro Section of the paper today).  I texted her since she wasn't there yet to congratulate her.  Minutes later, she arrived, apparently somehow bothered by the condition of the prisoners in the station.  It was kind of disturbing, really, seeing those men packed in the cell.  There wasn't enough room for everybody, so some had to resort to squatting on waist-high partition walls and kitchen sinks.  Tsk, tsk...

After our stint at the Police Station, we proceeded to our usual stop every day: Camp Karingal.  We interviewed the Police Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) about the recent robbery/theft case at RC Cola in Novaliches.  The cops and the reporters were laughing at how some uniformed policemen broke into the office/factory (I wasn't able to clarify) of RC Cola and took lots of cash.  Too bad they didn't know that they were being filmed on CCTV camera, so now the police is after them.

The PSupt. (oha, alam ko na mga abbreviations!  =P) gave us another police record of a good case--something about Former Senator Tito Sotto reporting a theft incident over at his house in White Plains, Quezon City.  The thief(s) took his wallet, his mason ring and his precious, precious iPhone.  No wonder the old senator's fumed, people will find out he owns an illegal unit of the iPhone!  LOLz.

After this Sir Marlon typed his Senator Sotto story (through his Sony VAIO mini-laptop-thingamajigger) and filed it online.  It can now be found here.  This was posted just a little over an hour after Sir Marlon sent it over the net (there was WiFi in the QCPD, would you believe?!).  Aaaahhh, technology.

The stories we got today prompted us to think: why are we getting a lot of Police Stories involving famous celebrities this week?  Are we to become the local version of Gossip Girl?  Haha.  Scratch that last part.

We then went to the rear part of the Camp to talk to the informal settlers whose houses were being threatened of being demolished by the police.  We talked to their President and gathered some info about the recent case of demolition.  We found out that the lot is owned by UP and was just leased to the PNP.  Hmmm... so it didn't just start with the S&T Park.  I wonder if the establishment of the Camp was widely opposed by UP students when it was first built?

We then proceeded to the NUJP Headquarters to type the stories.  But before going there, Claire and I had to eat our lunch first.  It was 2pm and we haven't eaten a thing.

But, the problem of the day soon struck me in the face:  I only had 75pesos today, how am I gonna squeeze that into the different expenses I have to endure for the next few hours or so?  An idea came to mind, and I'm glad Claire agreed to my plan, so we dined at Jollibee for more variety (yesterday we ate at McDo).  I ordered the ultimate grepa meal: the lumpiang shanghai with macaroni soup and drink for only 49 pesos!  Hooray!  I still had about 26 pesos to spare.  That'd have to go to the fare going to the Inquirer office.

We returned to the NUJP HQ stomachs full, and we did our stories separately.  Claire did the full story on the Sotto case, while I wrote the Ferriols one which was quite tough because I didn't know half the details.  I had to keep asking Sir Marlon what happened so that I could finish the stories.  Several camwhoring sessions and hours after, Sir Marlon edited our stories, gave us his comments, and off we went to the Inquirer Head Office!

The travel to the head office took about an hour.  Good thing we didn't have to battle it out with the rush hour, lest we arrive at the office scathed and bruised.  We barely knew the exact directions going to the head office from Morato, and I just swear we somehow got on the wrong jeepney on the way to the MRT.  Thankfully, we both survived, arms, legs and all.

Upon arriving at the office Claire got her tuition check and we went straight to Sir Yambot who was so nice to escort us (actually, he does that everytime--escort us everywhere.  Such a nice guy, Sir Yambot is.  *sipsip* :P) to the Research Department, where Ma'am Miner, the Department Head, interviewed us for a short while and gave us our assignments.

Somehow, both Claire and I were shocked with Ma'am Miner's strictness.  She asked us our definite times of arrival and departure to and from the office, because, she said, interns aren't allowed to have flexible time schedules.  It was somehow a great departure from what we got used to in the field, where somehow anything goes, so long as you meet your deadline.  So we told Ma'am Miner we'd stay at the office from 5pm til 9pm everyday, and she agreed.  Then off we went to our assignments.

She gave us a small sheet of paper each with two topics and three questions written below them.  Claire took the Scarborough Island topic and I ended up with the Habeas Data topic.  Basically, they wanted us to do a research on the topic on the Inquirer archives, so this is why it's like CommRes all over again.

About two hours later and both Claire and I finished, so we submitted our papers to Ma'am Miner for evaluation.  When she returned our papers, she asked Claire to look for a map of the island while she asked me to look for certain provisions on the writ of habeas data, and to follow strictly the Inquirer Stylebook.  But along the side, she commented how she was naiinis because we did the job very quickly and very efficiently, and she even told me that I did a very comprehensive job, save for a few misses here and there.  Wahoo!

Somehow, Claire and I loved doing our work in the Research Department.  It's not as haggard as the Police Beat rounds and it feels like we've already done this a million times in school.  But this is only the first day of the job, and it gets harder every day.  Tomorrow we deal with phone calls to different schools to ask for their tuition rates.  Haggard.  That's a lotta school, just looking at my list.

At around 8pm, they told us to have dinner already.  Because I didn't have money anymore, I just accompanied Claire to KFC to buy her food.  I wasn't that hungry anyway, and home is just about an hour away.   So we quickly got back to the office where Claire ate her food and I checked my bank account online.  And guess what?  I have freaking money on my account.  Whatta loser.

At 9pm we said our goodbyes to Ma'am Miner and our co-workers who were Journ people as well, such as Ate Kate, Ate Cyril, Ate Iza(?) and Ate Shiatsu (Oh no I don't know how to spell her name!).  Claire offered a ride but I told her I'd commute na lang, since I'm out of the way.  On the way home I withdrew money from an ATM and ate my heart out at ChowKing.  Boy, was I hungry.

So that concludes our 2nd day at work.  It was a very tiring day and I have reasons to believe this'll go on for the next few weeks or so.  But the good thing is, somehow, the haggardness of the Police Beat is balanced out by the fun workplace and workload at the Research Department.  We get experience interviewing, looking for stories and writing them on the field, and we get knowledge on how to do effective research in the office.  I guess this internship is turning out a little better than how I pictured it before I start, so yay!  Hooray for 12-hour workdays.  =))

I'm looking forward to reporting for work tomorrow. =D

Hours covered today: 7 1/2 hours on the field, 4 1/2 hours in the office (12 hours in all)

Day 01 - Of Renegade Child Stars

*Cross-posted from http://lfs.jmtuazon.net*

So today I get to start my internship.  I woke up at the ungodly hour of 8am (it is if it's summer), and read a text from my co-intern Claire that we were scheduled to meet Marlon, our trainor, at Camp Karingal at 12nn.  Thinking that 12nn is some few hours away, I decided to get some more sleep.

At 10am I got ready and packed my stuff: camera, recorder, extra batteries, planner, pens, notepad.  Yes, I was extra prepared, like it was the first day of school all over again.  Later I would learn that I wouldn't need over half of what I brought (lesson learned, so it'll be an easy pack tomorrow morning).  First problem came to mind:  I didn't know where Camp Karingal was.

So I fired up trusty Wikimapia.org and looked for Camp Karingal on the map.  Sadly, it wasn't registered when I typed it on its search engine, so I looked for some information over Google and found out it was situated at Sikatuna Village, Quezon City.  I looked for Sikatuna Village on the map and guess what--Camp Karingal was merely three blocks away from where I currently reside!

With that information in mind I grabbed a light snack by the nearest convenience store, called up a tricycle and headed to Camp Karingal.  Little did I know that the trip wouldn't take more than 5 minutes, tops.  It was 11:30 am.

Since I was dead early, I surveyed the area first.  The camp was quite huge, and I found out that there were several settlers at the rear part of the camp.  Reading a notice posted on the gate of the camp, I found out that these settlers homes' are to be demolished because the land was a property of the camp.  Later on I would find out that Sir Marlon did a story on the demolition a few days back, and it stopped momentarily because of the promotion of a certain official (was it Gatdula?  I couldn't remember).

12:00 came and there was no sight of my trainor, nor my co-intern Claire.  I texted my trainor and he told me that he's on his way to the camp and that I should wait for him over at the CIDU (Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, I would later learn).  I went over to the front desk and asked the policeman on duty where the CIDU is, and he politely pointed me to the right direction.  At least some policemen are nice, I thought.

Vehicles of different media companies started arriving soon after, for god-knows-what event.  A policeman sitting by the front door told one reporter that FG (Mike Arroyo) has been there earlier, to address policemen's problems about--get this--false teeth.  So yeah, I thought, the First Gentleman definitely has a lot on his hands right now.  I totally feel so safe and secure.

Anyhow, I went over to the CIDU where I waited for Sir Marlon and Claire.  Several minutes have passed before they arrived.  Sir Marlon gave me a mini-tour of the station, where, he says, the cases involving deaths are investigated.  Ooh, sounds really interesting, in a morbid kind of way.  He showed me the blotter and some other police documents.  We went upstairs to talk to some officials but unfortunately, they were out for something that day.

A few moments later and Claire arrived, drenched because it was raining.  Sir Marlon had gone off somewhere we didn't know, so we hung around the station for a while and watched TV.  A few moments later Sir Marlon came, interview and quotes in hand, and we then proceeded to the NUJP Headquarters to type the stories (Sir Marlon is a member of the Board of Directors of the NUJP).

Sir Marlon gave us three photocopies of blotter cases to turn into news stories.  The first two was about two security guards who died early in the morning, albeit on separate instances.  This was the one I wrote.  The second one, which Claire wrote, was about Niño Muhlach being involved in a vehicular accident somewhere in Panay Ave.  This got both Claire and I thinking--really, what is it with former child stars and law-breaking?  Haha.  We definitely saw a pattern there.

Anyway, after writing our stories in Sir Marlon's cutesy cutesy cellphone-notebook-PDA-tablet-I don't know what it's called (and I'm supposed to be the techie dude, huh?), he evaluated and edited them and hopefully, they'd come up in the papers tomorrow if the editors see fit.

Earlier in the day, Claire relayed to me that she wasn't getting enough hours during her coverage of the Police Beat last week (she started earlier than I), so we thought of transferring departments to get more hours, so we could finish by or ahead of the deadline (which is May 14).  We texted Sir Yambot's secretary and she told us to call that afternoon.  When we called, I got to talk to Mr. Yambot and he very nicely suggested we report at the Main Office after our beats to help in the Research Department.  Wahoo!  That was a very nice compromise for me and Claire, so we agreed.  We'll report there tomorrow afternoon, after we write our beat stories.

So yeah, basically, we'll be working two shifts every day--Police Beat in the morning/afternoon and Research Department in the evening.  I think that's fine with me, since I want to finish internship early.  The only letdown is the travel--ugh, that's Makati, and it's so far.  And I've somewhat grown a dislike for commuting.  But I'd have to put up with it anyway.

So there.  Hopefully there'll be no blood and gore tomorrow when we cover the Kamuning Police Station.  We report at 9am, so I gotta go sleep early tonight.  Buh-bye!

Hours covered today: 5 hours

Victories and Frustrations (Last Sem's Thanks and No Thanks)

AY 2007-2008.

42 units of hell.

14 subjects (plus 2 CWTS classes and 1 PE) of pure torture.

9 months of workload.

1 helluva school year.

I'd like to re-echo a lot of sentiments flying around Multiply lately.  That yes, Junior Year is THE year of ALL years.  It's a make or break year.  It's a crucial year.  It's an important year.  And most of all, it's a buwakananginang year.

I'd like to believe that the academic year that passed is a very monumental year for me.  It's monumental kasi gusto kong patayuan ng monumento lahat ng humaggard sakin this sem.  Wahahaha joke lang, ang corny ko na naman.  Kidding aside, sobrang daming nakakaluhang moments ang nangyari sa taong ito.  Pero sa kabila ng lahat ng lungkot at pighati, napakarami rin namang napakasayang nangyari.  Tara, balikan natin silang lahat.  Sariwain ang taong nakalipas... upang magabayan sa tatahaking hinaharap.  Okay.  Tunog retreat na ko dito.  Sige.  Les go!

Itong nakaraang taon na yata ang naging sadomasochist (Ching, 2008 or should it be Tuazon, 2008?  :P) year ko.  Kasi ba naman, mga kinuha kong mga prof at mga subjects pamatay talaga ng brain cells at paniguradong duguan ng ilong ang magaganap.  Chua, Arao, Lanuza, BJ101, CWTS sa ComSci, at marami pang iba.  Parang... nung nagsabog si God ng common sense sa pamimili ng subject, nasa loob ako ng enlistment room nag-eenlist ng mga subjects na yan kaya wala akong nasalo ni isang katiting.  Hehe.  =))  Marami namang better and easier alternatives, but no, pinili kong tahakin ang "road less traveled," ika nga.

At kung tutuusin, hindi naman ako nabigo.  Maraming tagumpay ang nakamit dahil sa pagsisikap.  Maraming pagsubok ang nalampasan.  Maraming adhikain ang napagtagumpayan.  Kahit marami ring pagkabigo, lampas-lampas kung maungusan ng mga pagkapanalo at tagumpay ang mga ito.  (O sige, pababa nang pababa, palalim nang palalim ang tagalog, keri?)

Ito rin ang taong sumubok nang matindi sa aking ideolohiya.  Marahil alam nyo naman ang nangyari.  Sa mga taong nainis dahil sa nangyari, patawad, sinasabi ko lamang ang aking opinyon.  Sa mga taong di na'ko nais makasama dahil sa ginawa ko, okay lang... kung 'di naman tayo magkakasundo sa simpleng opinyon, ano pa ang halaga nang piliting magkasundo sa bagay na alam naman nating magkaiba tayo ng pananaw.  Basta, hanga ako sa tapang at dedikasyon ninyo sa pinaglalaban nyo, at nirerespeto ko kayo dahil don.

Ito rin ang taong sumuong ako sa politikal na arena sa UP sa pagtakbo ko bilang Journ Rep (na natalo naman, hehe, pero okay lang).  Masaya akong nakakilala ng mga bagong kaibigan dahil sa tunguhing ito.  At alam kong may dahilan kung bakit hindi ako nailagak sa puwesto.  May iba pa namang paraan ng paglilingkod sa kolehiyo, hindi lang sa pamamagitan ng konseho.  Don't worry, ipagpapatuloy natin ang serbisyo... Abangan.  Chos.

Sa taong nakalipas, maraming tuwa at sayang naidulot hindi lamang ng mga kaganapan sa buong taon, kundi dahil na rin sa mga taong ginawang interesante at makabuluhan ang aking ikatlong taon sa kolehiyo.  Sige, ro-roll call muna ko.  Pasensya sa makakalimutan, my memory can only go so far.  Regaluhan mo ko ng MemoPlus Gold para maalala kita.  Hehe.  =P

To my Deza babies, IA and Elsie,  this year's been the first year we really got to know each other.  Marami na ko nasabi sa inyo.  I think you know what my heart will say naman.  It was nice knowing you two.

Kay Mark Ching, na sobrang galing mag-layout: kudos sa Kule at sa 121 days, pati na rin sa Socio125.  I know we had a falling out this sem and I apologize for my actions, and I'm glad we were able to iron things out.

Kina Paul, Hannah, Kumi, Pat at Dyan, mga seatmates sa J151 na forever reserved seating, thanks for making 830 classes on Tuesdays and Fridays worth waking up to dahil sa walang-hanggang tawanan at pag-iingay natin habang iniintay si Ma'am Jaz.

Kay Hannahbelles, for being my super classmate nung first sem.  Nawindang ako sayo gurl.  Haha.  Kamusta na ba ang tanaw natin jan?  System-wide pa rin ba ang lovelife mo?  Na-lost din ako na di naman kita classmate kahit sa isang subject this sem.  Hannah-withdrawal lang, for more.  =))

Kay Paul na kasabwat ni Hannah sa pang-aalaska sa'kin tuwing J123, na sobrang ikinapipikon ko naman (na sobrang pinagtatawanan nyo naman ni Hannah ang pagkapikon ko).  Salamat sa grand revelation na mali pala ang akala kong ikaw.  Hahahahahaha grabehan lang.  =))

Kay Kumi, na this year ko lang ren nalaman na hindi ikaw ang akala kong ikaw, salamat sa haggard at ngarag days na even though pressured na eh forever nakangiti ka lang sa tabi, parang baliw lang.  Hahaha joke.  Salamat sa lahat ng patawang kwento at mga bomboy juicy stories about the CHK girls mo, chos!  Stay Bomboy!!!  Salamat din sa CL115 accompaniments (o diba, kanta tayo!) at sa J111 haggardness na sobrang may koalisyon na tayo don, and don't forget our STEADY relationship, keri?  Na forever lang tayong tumitig sa flagpoles sa music na pinagtitinginan na tayo ng mga tao.  Wahahahahaha.  =P

Kay Pat, na this year ko lang rin naging ka-close kasi starstruck pa ko sa kanya last year, salamat naging close tayo.  Di ko makakalimutan one time, di pa naman tayo ganun ka-close, pero nang papasok ako as J151 classroom at nasa may BC dept ka, mega-sigaw ka ng "Hi JM!" on the top of your lungs.  Ngiti naman ako na kinikilig.  Yihee!!  Starstruck talaga ako sayo hon.  Shet ka.  Bat ba tayo naging friends.  Wala na tuloy kwenta autograph mo.  Wahehehehehehe.  =P

At kay Dyan, forever classmate, na for four straight sems ko nang classmate (minus one sa memory mo dahil di mo matandaan ang ating J101 Teodoro baby days, which led to you-know-what wahahaha), salamat sa Happy Times, Lonely Times, Haggard Times at Lablayp Times.  Maraming rebelasyon ang taong to, no, neng?  Hahahaha.  Shet.  Shift na kasi ang interests sa ibang college!  Chos.  No, seriously, you've been my parausan ever since, in the wholesome sense of the word (hahahaha alam kong maraming mag-iisip nang kung ano-ano jan!!!).  Sobrang daming kwento, sobrang daming rants, pero sobrang saya kasama kahit ano, kahit walang pera, kahit alas syete pa yan nang umaga at pareho pa tayong walang tulog.  Hahahaha.  Shetz.  I go for lubus-lubusin na natin to at maging kalasmeyts pa rin tayo for the next two sems.  Game?

Sa On The Rocks Team, congrats satinnn!!!  I'm sure matataas ang mga nakuha nyong grades this sem.  Talagang hinaggard naten ang subject na to.  Ultimo titigan ang isang picture nang tatlong oras kinarir naten.  Mamimiss ko ang videoke sessions natin sa classroom pag iniiwan tayo ni ma'am, at syempre ang lovelife ni Shepot na naka-move on na!  Sa Wakas!  Wahehehehe jok lang.  I go for let's Crescent Moon da second time around!  :P

To Anj, na ngayon lang din tayo naging close pero wala lang... katuwa ang mga YM convos natin tuwing madaling araw na kung san-san nauuwi, lalo na sa P night/morning nating tatlo ni Kumiko.  Hahahaha.  ANPORGETABOLSSS!!!  Pero ssshhhhh... walang laglagan ah?  May image tayo.  Kayo LLR.  Wholesome ako, Technology.  =))

At kay Chato... na sa YM ko pa lang nakakausap at nakikita, na never ko pa nakaka-eyeball in real life, salamat sa ganit0hng pakikipag-usap na powtek hinawuh mow sakehn, na sabi ko ke kumiko mang-di-disown ako ng mga taong ganyan magsalita pero oke lang ikaw, hehe.  Salamat sa pagbuhay mo ng adiksyon ko, no?  Taenang skins yan.  Bili na tayo!!!  =P

To Micah, ang newly-found friend na forever naman nating naririnig ang pangalan ng isa't-isa, more like I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You ang drama, pero syempre hindi Love ang lebel.  haha!  Salamat sa 122 haggard at ngarag days natin dahil ke Sir Arao, at salamat sa lahat ng mga words of advice at words of wisdom mula sayo.  =)

To Ayrie the nonconforming sado-masochist lucky bitch (lahat yan Tuazon, 2008), pucha.  Never pa tayo nagiging classmates.  Last sem lang tayo nag-meet, of all circumstances sa ganung situation pa, but no.  I feel like I've known you all my life.  Chos!  Haha.  Salamat sa lahat ng kabangagan mo grabe ka, na lagi mo kong hinahawahan... sa mga kwento mong walang katapusan, at sa mga kakulitan mong minsan ang sarap mo nang kutusan.  Jowk lang!  Alam kong iba na ang meaning ng smiley na >:D< sayo, punyemas.  Hahahaha.  Hindi ko makakalimutan yon.  Pucha, maging classmates naman tayo for once!!!  =P

To my CommRes101 groupmates, salamat sa lahat ng haggard days nating magkakasama... at sa mataas na grade na nakuha natin!  Haha.  Everything's so worth it, except for a few mishaps that we encountered along the way.  Salamat Ja sa pagpapatuloy mo samin sa iyong haws sa Celery St., Valle Verde 5, at sa pagpapakain mo ng masasarap na pagkain na ngayon lang namin natikman!  Chos.  Haha.  Salamat sa inyong lahaaattt... sobrang na-tats ako, inaamin ko, nang binasa ko ang peer evaluation nyo.  Haayyyzzz... halabshoo guys!  Let's never do that again.  Hahahahaha.

To my CWTS Group, alam kong di ako masyadong "belong" sa atin little clique bilang di ako taga-CS, but you made me feel very welcome.  Salamat sa lahat ng kulitan and asaran sessions natin, never ko yun makakalimutan.  Study hard ah!!!

And lastly, to my greatest pain and achievement this sem, to my Balitambayan Cast and Crew, sobrang, sobrang... hmpf... pfftttttt... *hikbi*... *hinga hinga*... *sob, sob*... haaayyy... speechless ako.

Bago ako magpasalamat... maglalabas lang ako ng saloobin.  Alam naman siguro nating lahat kung gaano ako nangarag dahil sa subject na ito.  Hindi ko nga sya major pero sobrang panahon ang ginugol ko dito, kahit nga majors ko di tatapat sa effort na binigay ko sa class na to.  Bawat araw na gigising ako BJ101 agad ang papasok sa utak ko.  Iisipin ko kung saan ang shoot, kaninong camera, sinong reporter, anong anggulo, sinong iinterviewhin, lahat.  Alam kong maraming mga panahong nastress at nagalit ako sa ilang mga tao, patawad.  Pare-pareho tayong nangarag at lumuha dahil sa subject na to... at sa dulo, maganda naman ang nagawa nating produkto.  Pero sa totoo lang, di ko matanggap ang markang nakuha ko... sabihin na nating mayabang ako at nagbubuhat ng bangko, pero sa tingin ko talaga mas mataas na marka pa ang dapat na nakuha ko... kung sa effort at effort man din lang, alam naman nating lahat ang ginugol nating panahon para dito.  Por Gadseyks, di nga pwede mag-overnight dito sa apartment bilang me mga nagrereview na law students dito, pero dahil wala na talaga, sige dito na lang... maraming sakripisyo, maraming binitawan... ilang GIGS worth of Torrent ang binurao ko ke Joaqs, daan-daan o libo-libong perang nagastos, panahong nagugol naman sana para sa ibang bagay... pero ang kinauwian, parang hindi nasuklian ang effort na binigay ko sa markang nakuha ko.  Okay fine, for the first parts of the sem, medyo lax ako sa BJ, pero nagsubmit naman ako ng requirements (save for a negligibile one), at nagpaparticipate naman ako minsan... pero ewan ba.  Nakakalungkot lang talaga...

Anyway... para kay Nel, na sobrang naging constant companion ko talaga sa BJ na yan, salamat sa pagiging isang magaling na News Director, isang maaasahang kaibigan, isang great listener, isang great decision-maker, isang great leader.  Sobrang hindi ko talaga alam ang gagawin ko sa BJ kung wala ka Nel, kung alam mo lang.  Sa mga panahon gusto ko nang magpakalbo sa sobrang dami ng stress at frustration, you keep me balanced and all.  Naks.  Teka baka magselos na si Papa Ryan nyan.  Basta, sobrang thankful ako sayo kasi you helped me pull through this one... super thank you Nel, you are one great soul.

At sa buong BJ Class, sobrang pasasalamat ko coz I got to meet a lot of new friends in you all.  Pasensya na kung madalas nyo ko nakikitang galit or inis ah... stressed lang kasi sa dami ng trabaho.  Pero on a normal day sobrang friendly ko naman... diba?  DIBA???!!  AMININ NYO!!! POWTEK UNO BINIGAY KO SA INYONG LAHAAATTT!!!  Haha.  Nagwala eh no.  Pero yun.  Naiiyak naman ako sa mga ginawa natin this sem... at natutuwa dahil kayo ang mga kasama ko dun.  Uy, remember our McFloat days at McFloat envy ni Nel?  Hahaha.  Tuwing iinom ako ng float, kayo maaalala ko... shet, andrama ko na.  Ohmegads.  eto na ang sinasabi ni Nel na lab letter... sabi ko di ako gagawa eh.  Pero pramis, mamimiss ko kayo... I remember, nung last day ng editing, nung kame na lang dalawa ni Nel, nasabi ko na lang... "Aww, patapos na... Mamimiss ko ang BJ" na sobrang pinagtawanan ako ni Nel dahil ang senti ko nang panahong yon, pero nangingilid na talaga ang luha ko nang mga panahong yon... mamimiss ko kayong lahat... sorry sa lahat ng shortcomings ko ah, at sorry kung nakakainis ako most of the time... i'm really sorry guys...

Haaayyy... at syempre kung may mga pinasalamatan, meron namang di dapat pasalamatan...

No Thanks sa mga prof na sobrang mangarag.
No Thanks sa mga prof na hindi nangangarag sa simula, pero putangina sa dulo babawi ng pangangarag.
No Thanks sa lahat ng mga ditz at sabaw moments, dahil nawawala sa direksyon ang mga gawain.
No Thanks sa mga kaklaseng bigla na lang mang-iiwan sa ere.
No Thanks sa mga kasamahang hindi willing mag-contribute.
No Thanks sa mga groupmates na mahilig mangako, kaya mahilig din mamako ng pangako.
No Thanks sa mga classmates na hindi ko malaman kung nang-aasar lang o ayaw talaga magpa-contact.  Kainis.
And lastly, no thanks sa mga taong makakapal ang mukha na grabehan lang magbuhat ng bangko kahit wala namang ginawa.

Yun lang.  Shet.  I'm so glad this sem is over.  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!  SORRY SA MGA NAKALIMUTAN KO!!!  =P

Okay. Powtek. Gusto ko na rin neto.

image courtesy of http://proudskin.multiply.com

UGGGHHHH CHAAATTTTOOOO KASALANAN MO TALAGA TOOOO!!!  Shetz.  Ang ganda ng design.  Tapos lalagay ko pa yung Apple Sticker sa ginta.  Shet shet shet naglalaway ako nang bonggang bongga.

Shet ka chato!!!  Arrrrgggghhhh...

Kaso... 800 sya kasi malaki yung laptop ko.  500 lang sana kung 13" lang si Joaqs.  But no.  Jumbohala sya eh.  Shemay.  Mag-iipon, MAG-IIPON!!!

Chato I hate you.  But hate is not the opposite of love, it's indifference.  So if I hate you, that means I still care.  (Kumowt bigla?!  =)))

I HATE YOU CHATOOO!!!

SINONG ME APPLE LOGO STICKERS??!

HAGGARD NA BUHAY TOH.  Kasalanan to ni Chato eh.  Binuhay nya ang matagal nang patay kong addiciton sa Windows Skins.  Powtek.  Kaya napahalughog ako ng net (I go for "halughog" ang tagalog counterpart ng google, magkatunog diba?  Okay.  COPYRIGHT YAN!!!  Tuazon, 2008) para maghanap ng mga eeskins... at powtek i hit teh jackpot ika nga.  super mukha nang mac si joaqs, from the loading screen, to the login screen, down to the dock... ang kulang na lang talaga eh yung mga supercalifragilisticexpialidocious na visual effects sa mac, na nahihirapan pa kong hanapin.

at syempre, para kumpletuhin ang transformation, powtek kelangan ipagmayabang.  kelangan ko ng apple istikerrrs para idiket sa likod ni joaqs!  dahil si joaqs ay hindi na compaq presario, isa na syang ComMac Presario!!  MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ANG KORNEEE KOOOO  =))

Babu.  Stickers ko ah?!

Caffeine Rush

She sat comfortably by the sofa chair.  With her four fingers, she carefully took a sip of her favorite drink, pinkies pointing outward.  Caramel Macchiato.  Nice.  She lingered on and tried to people watch.  A guy, probably by his mid-thirties, clad in lavender long sleeves and a tie that screams red sunset, is reading a newspaper right across her table.  Some fangirls-wannabe were chitchatting at the table beside her.  She put on her earphones and tried to channel out the coffeehouse noise.

She took another sip.  Sweet, yet bitter.  Just the way I want it.  Trickles of sweat started dripping down her forehead.  Memories of the night that passed by flashed by her eyes, as if she was transported to another world.  No, that wasn't right.  It definitely is not.

She took another sip.  She saw the pictures once again.  Vivid as they have always been.  The memories won't leave her alone.  Stressful, defnitely stressful.  She took yet another sip.  Ow!  Her tongue got burned.  Ow, ow ow ow!  She tried to retain her composure while secretly hiding her pain inside.

She dashed by the condiments counter to get a glass of cold water to soothe her burning tongue.  Cold... it was definitely cold.  Dark, yet the memories are all clear.  Vignettes, pictures... moving.  She couldn't take them off her mind.

She went back to her seat and donned her earphones once again.  She took another sip.  This time, the coffee tasted strong.  It was more bitter than it had usually been.  Cold, and lingering.  Lingering cold...  I knew I shouldn't have.  She took another sip.  She remembered battling with her senses, trying hard not to fall for anything other than what she could handle.  But she didn't win.  She plunged into it.  It was nice at first... but turned sour right after.  She took another sip.  The taste of caramel was no longer there.

Slowly, her heart started to race.  The whirr of the espresso machine made no significant contribution.  Thump, thump, thump.  She took another sip of her coffee.  It didn't taste like anything at all.  She was sweating... real hard.  The room started to feel really hot, yet cold sweat ran down her cheeks... she couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe...

She took another sip of her coffee.  It tasted really sour.  She spat it back to her cup.  Her vision was starting to get blurry.  Cold, and scary... I didn't know what to do.  I had no choice.  Black... and dreary... and miserable.  Her hands started to shake.  She started to get restless.  Heart thumping like crazy.  She moved in and about her seat.  She looked at every direction.  She was going crazy.  Going really crazy.  She couldn't take it anymore.  She can't do it anymore.

The door of the coffeehouse opened. She died in her seat.  Her coffee was still half-full... or is it half-empty?