Poetry and Stuff

Beer

Curious is it not, how some concoction

Of little more than barley and water

Could at one time stir joyous commotion

And a raucous riot at another.

Truly must beer be most bizarre of brews

To some it’s nectar, to others a curse

For who drinks it may make the daily news

Whether it’s for crime or writing fine verse.

Perhaps this was not what those monks had thought

They just wanted to keep their water pure.

Yet these men of God our beer did concoct,

Of its consequences perhaps unsure.

All we could do is bear the aftermath

Of this legacy the holy men left

In its use we will just have to be deft

And avoid incurring society’s wrath.

<>

Into the Mind of a Beer Bottle

Compared to wine I’m for lesser classes

Bacchus didn’t think much of my being

I’m dismissed as a mere drink for masses

A drink improper for a regal king.

But please, look again. I cost but twelve bucks,

Even less if you’re willing to haggle

I’m a match with chips, even roasted ducks--

Anything that has salt or that’ll crackle.

Low class I may be, but still fit for all

So shirk not away from my simple charm

Whether prince or pauper, enter my hall

And let’s all just have clean fun together.

Omnipotence and Freedom (2nd of a Series)

Hello. Here's the long awaited (by all two of you) sequel to my post on Human freedom. It tackles the dynamnics between omnipotence and human freedom.

*Note: This post is theist in nature. If you are atheist and find offense in anything that has to do with religion, then skip this post.*

Human beings, as I've said, possess a freedom that is not absolute. Human freedom is the abilty to choose one's limits, to choose what one wants to do, NOT the ability to do everything wantonly and indiscriminately. I speak of freedom, not free will, which is not the exact same concept if Scholasticism is taken into account. So don't confuse the two.

Anyway, what happens to freedom in the light of an omnipotent being or God? Does it get any lesser? It seems to. An omnipotent being that can do anything and everything can meddle all one wants with humans. Since omnipotence covers all creation, it is very likely that it does interfere with our freedom.

Still, just because a being that's omnipotent can do everything, it doesn't necessarily follow that such a being will. The exercise of it is at the user's discretion. For example, just because you can kill your best friend, will you?

Also, perhaps the idea of an omnipotent being that does not fully exercise omnipotence is disturbing or absurd to some. But take into consideration that omnipotence will be accompanied by absolute responsibility. In the case of the notion of a perfect being, this would make perfect sense, since responsibility is a perfection and its opposite, irresponsibility, considered a flaw. The perfect being cannot be with flaws.

Hence, human freedom is not really endangered by omnipotence. The omnipotent simply chooses not to exercise omnipotence to the full extent.

(Revision 1)
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(to be continued, when I feel like it...)

X-mas Party (Planning Stages)

People sfrom the LaSalle and SWC groups, I'm hoping to put up an x-mas party tentatively scheduled for the night of course-cards day. Bug me in the chatterbox on your ideas and possible problems. The venue is my place (the SWC HQ in Ayala) as of now. Both venue and date are subject to change depending on your schedules. Hope to hear your comments.

Human Doubt

Doubt has to be the single most important facet of the human intellect. It's in doubt that new knowledge can be gleaned. It's from what we don't know that we seek out new things for us to know.

Doubt only becomes counter-productive when we start believing in the misconceptions we have brought up as a result of doubting. You can't be hanged for your doubts. But you can be hanged for beginning to actually believing in them. For example, you have doubts as to whether an area is scattered with landmines or not. You think that there may be none but there very well may be and you begin to believe there are none, and as a result you walk through the area in question and step on a mine. Well, you're toast. It wasn't your doubt that did you in, it was your belief that maybe your doubt was true without any verification whatsoever.

Doubt then is potentially dangerous, just as it is potentially productive. It really is all up to you to decide what to do with your doubts.

A New Blog to Visit

Go to http://youandmebaby.blogspot.com/
My friend Kathy just put up this blog. Nice place for Romantics to visit.

From Friendster: Labsong

Hey, I posted this on Friendster some time back. Since I'm too lazy to write anything new (or intelligent) enjoy this relatively light-hearted entry.

Labsong...

Message:

I finally realized that if one were to paste together random lines from Parokya ni Edgar's songs, you'd end up with a really bad love story about an ugly female and a distraught male...

For example:

1) Minsan hindi ko maintindihan... (Halaga)
2) ...bakit ang pangit pangit mo.. (The Crush)
3) ...hindi ka naman kasi ganun kaganda, di ba? (Maniwala ka Sana)

4) Sa itsura mong bakulaw... (The Crush)
5) ...ang bawat kilos mo'y nakakapanibago... (Maniwala ka Sana)
6)...parang naglalakad na lindol. (The Crush)

7) Wag mo na sana akong pahirapan pa... (Wag Mo Na Sana)
8) Hindi na ako naniniwala... (My Shattered Belief)
9) Ako'y napaisip at biglang napatingin... (Maniwala ka Sana)
10) ..sa kutis mong kulay champorado... ...huwag ka nang magpapanggap na ikaw ay isang dalagang ubod nang ganda... (Silvertoes)

11) "...Sino ba 'tong mukhang gago?" (Harana)
12) ...Nasira na ata ang ulo ko kaiisip ko sa iyo. Kahit saan tumingin ay mukha mo ang nakikita ko... (Maniwala ka Sana)
13) ...basura nang iba ang siyang pinapangarap ako... (Halaga, I altered the line a bit)

14) ...Hinding-hindi ako in love sa iyo. Papagulpi na kita sa gwardiyang may batuta. (Silvertoes)
15) Naala mo pa ba nung... (Buloy)
16) ...ikaw ay sagsaan ko? (Silvertoes)

17) Hoy,hoy,hoy,hoy,hoy,hoy... (Mr. Suave)
18) Para kang kape. 'Di ka nagpapatulog... (Ted Hannah)
19) Katawan mo'y parang tambyolo. (The Crush)
20) Gusto kong tumakbo palayo... ...Okatokat, nakakapraning! (Okatokat OP Theme)

21) ...May ibubulong ako sa iyo: p-t-ng -n- mo! (Parang Ayoko Na)
22) Are you a man? (Bigotilyo, Hidden Track 3)
23) ...yes... (same as above)
24 ..oh. You come here often? HAHAHAHA! (same as above)

...and it could go on, good thing I'm not that bored. Putting together lines from songs into stupid narratives is actually good mental exercise. Try it out.

"Pinoy" Idol?

This is in reaction to the recent visit by "Pinoy" Idol Jasmine Trias. Let me cut the crap: I was not happy with the idea that people are all of a suddent thinking of her as a "kabayan" so easily. I don't like the fact that people think they are all chummy with her when in fact she is "Filipino." Ok, maybe by blood she is. But being Filipino is not about blood. It's about spirit.

Now before you accuse me of being a fil-am hater like Conrado de Quiros (sad, sad man), lemme clarify my statement. I don't care if you're as white as snow, dark as soot, or "kayumanggi." You could be of Arab, Chinese, American, Japanese, Spanish, or whatever descent, and I'd still call you Filipino. If you possess the Filipino values of kindness, industry, hospitality, trustworthiness, and love of country, you're a Filipino to me. Now let's see which of these traits Jasmine has:

1) Kindness- She looks kind, but the fact that she was stone cold to all her fans in Cavite is enough to disqualify her from being called kind in my book. Her security team acted worse than the secret service for crying out loud! I blame this on her because of a little principle called "command responsibility." If you don't know what this means, look it up.

2) Industry- Can't really judge this one. She seems to be a hard worker. I'll give this one to her.

3) Hospitality- See "kindness." she loses this by default.

4) Trustworthiness- Can you really trust someone who acts all nice on stage but maltreats her fans? NO.

5) Love of Country- Gee, why did she go here? Is it because she loves the Philippines, or because she can't hack it in America? My honest opinion: dito lang kasi siya aasenso. Ginagamit niya tayo, hindi niya tayo mahal.

Hence, I don't really like having her around. I won't give her any kudos for her talent, much less call her "Filipino."

Poultry...

Guess what the family's been doing lately: buying different breeds of poultry for our little home coop. Yup, Dad's been indulging in his love of animals again by buying chickens, ducks, and what not.

What this means for me is that every midnight, there are a couple of misguided roosters below my room who are constantly trying to cock-a-doodle me awake (for some reason they cock when it's dark).

The thing is, we already own a ton of animals. We have a group of rabbits (who multiply exponentially), and dogs (who react violently at the ruckus of the chickens). We even have a small, uninvited colony of bats who happened to take refuge in the small forested area behind our home (apparently the village has a bat population that happened upon the Eucalyptus colony behind our house).

Also, since the animal colony is right below my room, every time one animal would create some noise, they'd all follow. Also, the chickens and dog of our neighbor whose coop happened to be right beside ours would go wild as well. This would normally happen in the early morning, before the sun rises. If I'm lucky it's at midnight (when I'm still awake). If I'm unlucky they do their thing at three in the morning.

Don't get me wrong, I like animals myself. But, I don't like them so much when they cause a ruckus at all the wrong hours. They make me want to make tinola right there and then...

Just an advertisement:

Hey, for those interested in the inner workings of a group of young single males with quasi-artistic aspirations, go to: www.swc-create.blogspot.com.

Recurring Nightmares...

Lately, I've been dreading the prospect of taking afternoon naps. I've been having this recurring nightmare, which feels so real that when I wake up I really feel wasted--more wasted than when I had gone to sleep.

I always dream that I am trying my very best to get up from bed, but cannot. I try doing everything to wake up: bite my tongue, tear at my hair, eveything, but can't seem to awaken. It's as if my mind is doing all of these things, trying to wake myself up but my body does not respond--it feels very weird. I could SWEAR in those instances that I was really biting my tongue, but somehow my body doesn't respond. It even reaches the point when I try to roll out of the bed to deliberately injure myself awake, but to no avail. I try to pierce my eyes--it does not work either. The scary part is, in my dream, my eyes are wide open the whole time, but are unreponsive. All they can see are the ceiling. During the time when I try to pierce my eyes, my hands are transluscent. It's as if I were a ghost stuck to my bed.

Anyway, that's basically why I don't like it too much when I dream. There was this other dream I had two years ago that had such an impact in my real life that I still remember the date I had it: Oct 26, Saturday. Actually, it was more of a full-blown case of night-terror than a dream. I had a slight fever that night, but it was low enough to let me go on an excursion with my high school buddies. That night however, at around ten-thirty, after watching Strangebrew, as I tried to bunk down and sleep, it got much worse. I was burning, and could not breathe. My heart was beating frantically and I was desperately trying to slow my breathing in order to calm down my heart--to no avail. When I did finally manage tosleep, I also felt like I was dying. The experience was surreal--I could not tell if I were awake or not. It was like being halfway through earth and hell.

The next morning, my fever was basically gone, save a slight ringing in my ears and a small case of stomach pains. Then my momknocked at my door. She told me simply that my grandmother had passed away the night before, and at roughly the same time I had my night terrors.

I wish it were a coincidence. But the symptoms I had that night included breathing trouble and increased heart rate. Grandma died of a heart-attack, and at that moment I felt like I was on the verge of having one myself. I guess that's why I hate sleeping early. The more you sleep, the more things can go wrong. The less sleep you get, the less chances you'll have.

But still, I feel under-rested.

Damn dreams...

Hey, this was pretty stupid.

Hello again. Welcome to the land no one visits.

I saw this idiotic news item on the papers today: a bunch (actually they numbered nine) of leftist protesters were arrested for attempting to fly kites at the Quirino Grandstand. The three dudes who made the kites were arrested, everyone else got away.

Imagine that, arrested for flying kites. Apparently, these guys had no permit to rally. Their kite had a message on it which demanded an across-the-board wage increase. They were simply gonna fly their kite.

The police thought it was a political rally and arrested the men. That was some rally. Really now, do you expect nine guys to hold a rally by themselves?

Even if they were members of the KMU, a group I have no fondness towards, arresting them for flying kites is stupid. Political message or not, they were flying kites. And sheesh, how much trouble can a rally of nine guys cause?

...Stupid.

Anime Review for the Bored

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FACTBOX:
Saishuuheiki Kanojo
Alternate Titles: "She, The Ultimate Weapon," "The
Last Love Song in This Little World," "Saikano"
Studio: GONZO Digimation (Gatekeepers, Vandread, Ragnarok: The Animation)
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Rating: 10/10
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This anime is a first for me. For one, it is the first love-story cum anime that did not make me cringe like the way Fushigi Yuugi did. Each time there was a bed scene in the show, I felt no malice but genuine sympathy towards the characters. It was also a first in that I actually watched it straight, knowing that it was unabashedly a love story. I viewed all thirteen episodes, without feeling bored, and no other show has that power over me, a love story at that. It is also the first anime that I intend to give a perfect ten.

What makes it so great is that it's not only a love story. It is also sci-fi, school drama and war drama all at the same time. That's quite a lot of things to call an anime. But it integrates these themes into one show so well that it's unbelievable.

The story revolves around an antisocial introvert named Shuuji who enters into a love affair with his classmate Chise, who in turn is a born klutz, timid, and innocent even at her age of 17. Perhaps I worded that unfairly, as the story is as much Chise's as it is Shuuji's, and the narration goes between the two lead characters pretty often. All of a sudden, Japan is invaded by a foreign army. Shuuji witnesses the first attack with his very own eyes and sees one of his classmates die. Confused, he follows a lone, pink light in the sky, a light which single-handedly destroys the invading threat like a demonic firefly. After following it for some, it descends, and he's aghast at what he sees: the firefly was no other than his new-found love Chise, who had transformed into the ultimate Bio-cybernetic weapon, complete with a Gatling gun for an arm.

First, I know that many of the details in the plot are total bollocks. First, why the hell would anyone invade Japan? Also, why does Japan have an active army in the anime? Lastly, why select a klutzy innocent student and woman to turn into the ultimate weapon instead of a seasoned soldier?

Anyway, there's no denying the fact that the plot details make no sense. But, throw all these away, for Saikano is a show to be FELT, not thought of. It feeds off human emotion and not thought. The way the love story unfolds has great verisimilitude anyway so it makes up for the irrational premise. It won't be the first time a young woman's been turned into a weapon, Rappacini's Daughter did that years ago. It won't be the first story of love in times of war. But, if it's not the first, it certainly is one of the best in the anime world.

It's the most emotional show I've seen in years. This truly is one for the heart rather than the mind. Shuuji's difficulties in dealing with the fact that his girlfirend has the strength of an atom bomb are convincing. The way that Chise teeters close to insanity torn between her murderous obligations and her love-life is very easy to grasp and easily felt Plus the supporting cast is just as alive. This is not so much a show about human love as it is a show about human beings in times of war. It succeeds as a war story because it shows the horrors and trials of war, and the emotional turmoil it causes. It succeeds as a love story because its focus on Chise and Shuuji's trials in love are done excellently and feel unforced. If anything, it's the sci-fi aspect that's weakest, but it's okay since it's only really needed to explain Chise's transformation into an angel of death. So, in the end, it’s still a very enjoyable anime, given the many illogicalities surrounding its plot.

My words fall short of the enjoyment this show gave me. Just watch it.

An Advertisment and Rant

Before anything, please visit my friend Gene's blog at: http://archerpride.blogspot.com. He is partly the reason I'm into blogging.

Anyway, an item in the papers today caught my eye: Apparently, a lawyer of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants congress abolished. The genius by the name of Romeo Macalintal proposed the gesture and calls it "an act of sacrifice" calling once again on the excessive Filipino fetish on martyrdom bred from misguided interpretations of Christian virtue.

My discussion on the nature of this fetish is better put off for another essay in another time. Let's see instead what a no-congress scenario is all about: absolute power. Let me clarify why. under our current constitution, a president may declare martial law during emergencies but congress must immediately convene in order to see whether the declaration is just. If it isn't, then congress may cancel martial law. But, if there's no congress, no one will be left to cancel the declaration of martial law. GMA, in her unabashed desire to bring about a "strong republic" (which isn't very strong) is the kind of bandit who just may attempt this.

Macalintal of course says that the process of abolishing congress would be gradual. 12 senators would remain to finish their terms, and they could still provide the necessary controls. But, come on! That still won't be a full congress which the constitution explicitly refers to in cases regarding the declaration of martial law. Since it's an incomplete congress, it technically has no real power over martial law matters. Did Macalintal really think I would not see through that one?

Of course his justification for canceling congress is that it would save the "Filipino People" (yeah right, GMA just wants more pie for herself) 67.7 billion pesos. He also calls it an "act of sacrifice" on the part of the congressmen, which really irks me because it isn't about sacrifice but absolute power and getting that 67.7 billion into the president's coffers. Sacrifice my ass. The real sacrifice is in getting these congressmen to WORK for FREE, since they don't WORK but are PAID anyway (though I must concede that this will never work with the likes of JDV around).

I agree that congress is largely useless. They spend more time investigating each other's activities instead of writing new laws, so much so that the Filipino people don't realize that congress isn't supposed to be an investigative body but a legislative one. But they ARE good for one thing: keeping the president's powers in check, and now this idiot by the name of Romeo Macalintal (who no doubt is talking on behalf is his boss) wants that last thread of control gone.

Sorry dude, but I saw right through you. Not all Filipinos are stupid. Some can still actually think.

Freedom (First of a series)...

Human freedom is such a beautiful thing. Yet it seems that people have great trouble defining it. People have defined it as the ability to do everything one wants. But this definition has a big problem in that it presupposes that freedom is absolute, which it is not. The simple reason is that people can’t do everything. People are limited in what they can do and hence the full spectrum of possible activities whithin human existence is not theirs. One cannot do everything one wants. Freedom is inherently limited.

Freedom then is better defined as the ability to set one’s own scope and limits in life and life choices. It make more sense this way since one can’t do everything but can do some things, and what one decides to do and not do is basically what freedom deals with when we really think about it. It is not being able to do everything one wants. It is being able to decide on what one will limit one’s self to doing.

This is why I don’t subscribe to the solipsism of Sartre. It’s my responsibility to limit my choices in ways that other people won’t be too inconvenienced. My freedom does not have to be overrun by another person’s. I must be responsible enough to realize that we can’t all get what we want. Am I being any less free because other people limit my choices? NO! I realize the fact that my freedom is not absolute to begin with. I know that my freedom is in setting my scope and limits, and not in doing everything I can.

Which leads me to my theory on love: love does not have to be a prison. When one decides freely to set one’s limits in order to accommodate another on one’s life, then one is still being free following the definition mentioned above. When the partner decides to limit his or her own freedom as well for the sake of common fulfillment, then freedom is also unhampered. If anything, this leads to a concurrence of two freedoms which is not restrictive but liberating. Love can succeed, as I’ve seen it do so. I’ve also seen it fail miserably. Don’t accuse me of being too idealistic. In my family which is only four generations old there have been many lousy marriages (complete with spousal abuse and all) and many successful ones. Don’t accuse me of having my head up in the clouds, you don’t know me. I know my stuff.

If only people would realize that freedom is not absolute and that it entails responsibility, then people would not be such assholes. But do they do this? No. Instead, they chalk up insane philosophies and ways of thinking that justify their stupidity.

Will you want to be like that? Make the smart choice.

Yay!!!!

After two years of waiting, the UAAP Men's Basketball crown is finally back home with De La Salle University Manila. Yes, we managed to defeat the more-experienced and (arguably) stronger team of FEU, but victory did not come easy. They put up one hell of a fight in the fourth quarter, bouncing back from an eleven-point deficit until La Salle drove home a miracle three-pointer at 63-65 to take the lead, 66-65.

Well, I guess there's no arguing against greatness since once we took the lead for the last time, we kept it for good. We went on to score two more points via free-throws in the last 2.2 seconds of the game, sealing the victory for sure.

The thing is, FEU fought so well that if it were left to me, I would share the trophy with them. They deserve it as well. Both teams fought at their 100%, in a way it could be argued that we just won because of one lucky 3-pointer. But I guess a win is a win.

We're just too damn good I guess.