I can name that tune

The best thing about long weekends is we get to have long lunches with the whole family.

Just earlier we were having lunch and reminiscing about other mealtimes (haha, we are a really strange family).  One of our favorite stories which always cracks us up even after so many years is this one, which happened when I was about 13-16 years old.

Dinnertime:

Mom (turning to my older brother):  Ano na nga yun kantang mga mukhang nakalimutan ko na?
                                                        (What's that song about the faces I've forgotten?)

Older brother looks blank.

Me (from the other side of the table) starts to sing: "There are places I remember...all my life!"

My brothers and sisters still don't get how I got the right song since my mom wasn't even remembering the right lyrics.  I don't know either, I think it's just evidence that I have a psychic connection with my mom! :))

My 2 cents on the plagiarism issue

2 cents or 0.86 pesos  

I find it strange that the SC formed the investigating body from their ranks.

The Vinuya case was decided by the Supreme Court en banc...so technically, that decision was reached in consultation with all the members of the SC...All of them are tainted by that decision.  As my boss said, there are a lot of retired justices still active who could have constituted the investigating committee.  How can we expect to have had a truly objective investigation if the parties who signed and concurred in the decision (and therefore, can be reasonably expected to have read, reviewed and done their own research on the topic) are the very same people who will investigate and evaluate if plagiarism had indeed been committed? 

In an attempt to save one of their own, and presumably their own skins, they came out with a whopper of a decision, absolving del Castillo from any allegation of plagiarism and in the process, creating the doctrine of "intentional plagiarism" and blaming Microsoft, too.  Now, they want the blood of the U.P. professors who dared to bring the issue into the light. Wheeee-hoooo! 

I've heard some people making an issue about how U.P. professors are such assholes and making trouble wherever they can.  I've even heard some people say it's just a manifestation of the U.P.-Ateneo rivalry...Hey, I'm from U.P.  (I wasn't even aware that there's a rivalry.  Are we even on enough of a similar footing to be called rivals? :-D.)  This isn't an issue about U.P. or any other university.  This is an issue concerning every Filipino and what we all put a lot of pride in...Filipino integrity.  Eeek.  And just to point out what seems to me is obvious...ok, so Del Castillo is from Ateneo and yet the Ateneo Law School has not issued any statement. I guess they prefer to stay out of the issue.  That's fine. But what's really notable is that not one Ateneo alumnae has gone out and defended Del Castillo in public.  Even the usually outspoken Fr. Bernas is conspicuously silent.  In hindsight, this was probably the best course of action.  Especially now when there is the possibility of another plagiarized decision.

I especially liked De Quiros' commentary, particularly this passage:

All the professors were calling for was for Del Castillo to resign or be held in contempt by the public. They weren’t calling for him to disembowel himself, though heaven knows that is what people of honor do in Japan. They weren’t calling for him to shoot himself in the head, which was what people of honor do in Europe. They weren’t calling for him to flagellate his back with thongs studded with glass shards, though heaven knows that is what people of dishonor do in this country on Good Friday. Resignation is the least of what justice calls for, resignation is the least of what a justice goes for.

I should think that anyone with an ounce of delicadeza would have stepped down at the earliest hint of scandal, even more so since he holds such a position of trust and respect.  He can't just shrug off the fact that plagiarism was committed.  Or, if we follow the SC decision, even if there had been no intent to plagiarize, Del Castillo should have been sanctioned.  He had the responsibility to make sure that what comes out of his office has been reviewed to within an inch of perfection (because nobody's perfect, I'll settle for an inch shy of perfection) before signing his name.

As for the SC, they're objecting to all the publicity because they feel that the respect that the judiciary is entitled to is being eroded.  But as we all know, respect is earned.  In their attempt to erase any doubt as to their "supremacy", they are considering sanctioning the U.P. professors who have been vocal (or signed the petition which the SC is saying was just a "dummy" document) about the issue.  However this turns out, it looks to me that the SC has boxed itself in.  Really neatly too.  Now, even the plagiarized authors have expressed their support for the U.P. professors.  "Damned if you do, damned if you don't"  If they sanction the U.P. professors, then the professors would be martyred for the cause...the SC won't get any sympathy nor support on this one.  If the SC decides to back off, then they won't exactly come out as villains, but that would still leave the plagiarism issue out in the open.  Unless, they decide to issue an amended decision -- which I don't see happening, anyway.

I hope the SC has a fantastic spin doctor to get them out of this one.  Or maybe, all they need is a little humility and admit they were "maybe just a little bit wrong."

My office Top Ten

I've been in my new office for a month now.  Here's a list of the things I like best!

1) Shared lunches
2) Nap time

3) Merienda time
4) Funny people
5) Casual friday

6) My boss
7)Work hours

8) Flag ceremony
9) Work load
10) Deadlines

Day 16 - Twick ow Tweat!

October 28, 2010 - in preparation for our office trick or treat!

hate mail

I'm just surprised how some of my so-called friends can be such users.  Okay so some of it may have been my fault, letting myself be used.  But I have to draw the line somewhere. Or maybe, the line has always been drawn, I just realized that you crossed it bigtime. It may have felt like we were the best of friends, but we really don't have anything in common.  Just lonely people thrown together by circumstances. (Okay, again maybe some of those circumstances were also my fault.)

I don't appreciate how you slam my friends...and then when I turn around you're going around being very chummy together.  How am supposed to react to this?  I especially don't like hearing how you hate everything about him -- from his looks to his beliefs, and then later on ask me to invite him to join our get-togethers just because you want some body count on your pictures for FB.

I don't like how you hate the guys I like and asking me what I ever saw in them.  I especially don't like seeing you flirt with the guys I like and when I confront you, you have the gall to say that you liked them first.

Sometimes I wonder if you're as clueless as you make it appear.  Sometimes, it feels like I'm being played bigtime.  Do you ever wonder why none of your relationships ever work out? I have a theory.

Do you like being my friend because I always put you in the best light possible?  And that I never compete with you?  Is that why you hate it when I dress up?  You do realize that I am the only close woman friend you have don't you?  Again, probably because I don't give you any competition.

And just so we're clear, you don't have to pretend that you actually care about how my day was.  I already know that you contact me only when you need my help, so please, just get straight to the point.

Anyway, here's my theory... You're a bitch! And no amount of make-up, salon procedures, facials, whitening and slimming pills can cover it up.  You may be good for a couple of dates to show-off to the guys, but you're not exactly girlfriend material.  (According to _____, you're meant to be seen from afar, because when you get near, it becomes clear that you're made up to be seen from afar!)

Day 15 - How to declutter your closet

October 23, 2010 - I had the "brilliant" idea to pull everything out from my closet and then decide what's going back in and what's to be discarded as I go along....DISASTER!!!

Joketime:

Bro: Do you know why Edward (Cullen) is so pale?
Me: Coz he's a vampire...ok ok, tell me why he's so pale?
Bro: Coz there's no sun in the closet!!!

Another one:

Bro: Did you know that Edward (Cullen) was in Narnia?
Me:  Really?! I didn't know that!
Bro:  Yup, he's really deep in the closet!

Anyway, at the rate I'm going, I'll probably finish my "365-day project" in 5 years.

Whut?!?!?

Supreme Court threatens to sanction law faculty critics

This really sucks! Ok, I won't even attempt an in-depth discussion since this is my airhead blog (like, I have any other blog).

Admittedly, I haven't read the full decision in the admin case, so I'll do my homework first.

Day 14 - Work spill

October 19, 2010 - Eeeep.  Sorry, couldn't resist...This Supreme Court decision on refunds of input VAT (especially on the reckoning point of the 2-year period and the applicability of the 120-30 day rule) probably has tax practitioners scrambling...

Day 13 - last of the blue sky

October 18, 2010 - 5: 18pm just before the rain fell...

Day 12 - Jollibee party!

October 17, 2010 - joint birthday celebration for my cute nephew and niece (are they my nephew and niece, if they're my cousin's children?) -- ok ok, so this is Jollibee's butt. :)

Day 11 - If the world were upside down

October 16, 2010 - 4pm northeastern sky -- blue skies, but we're preparing for the typhoon.

Day 10 - 5:28pm sky

October 15, 2010 - sky was cloudy from approximately the same spot of our garage
 as yesterday's picture.  Poor spider! Doesn't he know there's a typhoon coming?

Day 9 - Cirrus clouds?

October 14, 2010 - got home at 5:24pm. Clouds in the small window of sky above.

In Yahoo news

Good news for Chile.  If that had happened in the Philippines...tsktsk.

In other news... I read about the Happy Meal Project.  Eeew!  But it sort of makes me want to try it out on my own kitchen...except that my Mom will probably kill me.  Hehehe.

Maybe I could try a McDonald's and Jollibee face-off?

Anyway, I was really hungry when I got home (it's so easy to get used to the 2-hour interval between meals at the office...thehehe). This is what I've been up to...

Mini-monay, choco spread, peanut butter, low-fat milk and tuna spread

Day 8 - Dog lover's mug

October 12, 2010 - my officemate's very cute mug! I don't love dogs (surprise!) but I like this mug :)

Sappy quotes - warning!

It's too early for Valentine's but since I'm still clearing out my stuff (yes, I'm still not finished), I found this old newsletter from college.  It had these quotes...I'm too lazy to check who actually wrote the following gems....but whoever they are, I'm sure all the emo people out there are thanking them. :))

This one sort of makes sense to me, because we all look for someone who meshes well with us:

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird and when we find someone who's weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

This one's a quote for martyrs.  Maybe someday I'll have such a self-sacrificing love....or not!

A great love? It's when you shed tears and still you care for him, it's when he ignores you and still you long for him.  It's when he begins to love another and yet you still smile and say I'm happy for you.

I totally agree with this one!

If love fails, set yourself free, let your heart spread its wings and fly again.  Remember you may find love and lose it, but when love dies, you never have to die with it.

Then, there's this one.

It's more dangerous to weep inwardly rather than outwardly.  Outward tears can be wiped away while secret tears scar forever.  In love, very rarely do we win but when love is true, even if you lose, you still win just for having the tingle of loving someone more than you love yourself.

The next quotes have to be reconciled with each other:

There comes a time when we have to stop loving someone not because that person has stopped loving us but because we have found out that they'd be happier if we let go.

If you really love someone never let go, don't believe that letting go means that you love best, instead fight for your love, that's what true love is.

Some people don't do anything but wait....I suggest that while waiting you enjoy yourself or do something to make you the best and right one for the one you're waiting for. Whew!

It's best to wait for the one you want than settle for one that's available.  Best to wait for the one you love than one who is around.  Best to wait for the right one because life is too short to waste on just someone.

Maybe some happy endings happen this way...

Sometimes the one you love turns out to be the one you hurts you the most, and sometimes the friend who takes you into his arms and cries when you cry turns out to be the love you never knew you wanted.

Blast from the Past 2

So I've been going crazy being sick at home.  I've read my new book (Matthew Reilly's The Five Greatest Warriors) and I don't have anything else to read, well, none that I want to reread just yet.  There I was contemplating my bookshelves when my eyes fell on, of all things!, my yearbooks.  Hehehe.  I'm kinda bragging here, but I like my write-up in high school. :))

"She's one student who has the guts not to study for a long test.  Born with a brilliant mind and superior IQ, Doodie is also blessed (?) with enough laziness to be considered hazardous to health.  While everyone is in panic over unfinished assignments and deadlines, you'd find her calmly seated at her place, utterly unaware of the chaos around her.  Typically stable and cheerful, she rarely gets moody, but when she does, watch out! Her razor-sharp tongue and sarcastic remarks (spoken in English or Filipino) have been known to reduce people to tears.

Despite her laziness, Doodie can handle responsibilities, being a club officer, and annual staffer.  She's probably schizophrenic (have you found your invisible jet?).  Possessed with an irrepressible optimism and unshakeable self-esteem, you're not likely to find her rattled even in the direst situation, instead, be prepared to laugh when she shows her arsenal of corny jokes and crazy antics.

As an advocate of mind over matter, it's really not hard to believe once you've met Doodie."

Cool di ba?  I'm such a dork. :)

Day 7 - Sickee girl

October 7, 2010 - Been sick since wednesday. Asthma attack + bad cough = :-(

Blast from the Past 3

Since I already started down the road, here are my write-ups from college:

"Doodie is not perfect. She makes you laugh when you're all set to being depressed.  She eggs you on when you're getting angry.  She laughs at you when you humiliate yourself.  She ignores you when you desperately need her attention.  She's never there for you.  She's lazy and tardy and selfish and conceited and a stuck-up snob. She never listens when you're talking.  She looks through you, not at you.  She'll eat all your food when you're not looking.  She'll kick you if you do or say something to irritate her.  She'll stick her tongue out at you when you're in the middle of a really tough recitation.  She's irresponsible and utterly undependable.  She'll take advantage of you if you're not careful.  Her smile is always the most angelic when she's done something particularly devious.  Her eyes start twinkling when she's going to be mean.  She's happiest when she has completely ruined somebody's day.  She isn't really someone you want to be friends with.  She doesn't have a single redeeming quality...Uh, I guess there are some things.  She loves me even though I'm a compulsive liar.  The way I see it, that makes her as close to perfect as a person can hope to get."

 And from law school:

"Sometime in September of her last year in law school, Doodie, the penultimate guru of real-world love claimed that she is now ready to plunge into the abyss of the complicated exclusive inter-human affair commonly referred to as requited love. [Read as: SHE NOW WANTS TO HAVE A BOYFRIEND!] While admittedly the logical step in her well underway trek towards self-actualization, one cannot help but ask the question: Is there a man worthy of Doodie's crazy brand of cool?  Can a man keep up with her ultra-positive 'I just might survive the end of the world' outlook?  With her recurring spur of the moment 'there's a beat in my head and I couldn't care less who's looking' jiggle and her 30-second melancholies, can someone actually measure up?  While Doodie has enchanted many with her 'I can live ten lifetimes but I will never get that out of my head' smile and her constant need to be scratched (in the back), Mr. Right has yet to come along.  Meanwhile, she has the company of her family and friends who are ever so thankful for their daily dose of Doodie's 3 parts sexy, 4 parts crazy and 3 parts sugar and spice."

Nyek!

Day 6 - Home before dark

Oct. 5, 2010 - Got home by 5:30pm.  It's still light outside. Haha..I hope this will be my regular going home time...or even earlier if I could just wake up at 5:30am!

Day 5 - Patriotic Monday

October 4, 2010 - My first flag ceremony in my new office.  The lighting's a bit off since I took the picture surreptitiously, hehe. 

Bye Makati

I moved to a different city (sounds soo faar away!) for a new job.  And while this is a great opportunity for me, I can't help but think of all the things and friends I'm going to miss...

Mace - S's kuya.  He's a super nice guy who took care of us when we started at the office.  He introduced us to his friends and made sure S and I didn't get into too much trouble. He keeps our secrets and gives really good advice too. I love him because he's so pa-strict kunyari but then he goes along with whatever S and I cook up.

Ferdie - gentlemanly hotness :)) hot daddeeh! hehehe. leer*

Paolo - He's also an older brother figure and a perfect gentleman. Very malambing voice :))


RC - our very own "korean" pop star


Eric - my cute (very guapo) little brother :) super mabait and always looks like he has something funny to say, which he usually does!


Jon - need I say more?


Yvette - the best secretary! and makulet too like me and S.


Eu - don't have anything to say, pero siguro I'll miss him too


Al - well, I definitely won't miss the daily dose of drama :) but I wish him all the best.

Hot Momma - I'll miss her kakikayan!

My desk:

S is very busy:

Eu is out of the office (na naman):

Day 4 - sun's a little bright

October 1, 2010 - Morning after mom's surgery...rainy and already running late, but still, is it just me or is my shower curtain extra happy too?