Ladies and gentlemen, your newest author has arrived!!!!

JENNIE CASTILLO, LOMOGRAPHER EXTRAORDINAIRE!

So thrilled to finally take part of this growing confederation of REUEL CULALIC HATERS AND GAMBLERS OF SOCIETY... I'll be responsible for the official tallies of wins and losses from the trips at PAGCOR, photographs/lomographs for events, and possibly the overall design of this blog.

I am giddily waiting for new authors to finally start posting here. We're expecting a newly elected KAGAWAD to post his speech!!! I believe a special invitation has also been sent to Reuel.. now I have this intuition that the sacred blog will be infested with numerous dirty and ADOLFerous videos for the next couple of days. So we must watch out, dear readers and fellow authors... Korean Mom's may already be in our midst.

Anyway, here's a favorite photo of mine from Enchanted Kingdom.. Will be posting the lomographs soon.

ENCHANTED KINGDOM - RIO GRANDE RAPIDS - Oct. 29, 2007

I'll be waiting for your first post, GRANDMASTAHHHH!!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Happy Birthday Sir Ed!

It's the birthday of Mr. Edward Franco today! Although I'm not sure if he's already celebrating there in the U.S. of A. Anyhows, happy birthday to him!

Politician Rod!

Who would have thought it? Our baby boy Rod Steven O. Vasquez, chauffeur officiale (probably not a real word) of the Alpha Phi Culalic, is now a full-pledged politician of the Republic of the Philippines.

That’s right, folks. Rod was elected October 29, 2007 by the good folks of Barangay Magdalo in Cavite as one of the Kagawad in their prestigious community.

As it is, he will now soon embark on a journey of responsible and dedicated service for his constituents, leading them to a new light, a new perspective, and a better life. We know he can do it!

Of course, seeing as how we tirelessly supported the little guy in two of his exhausting campaign events, donning his white and red campaign t-shirt, no less, it’s only proper that we be compensated sufficiently for our efforts. Which means: “CELEBRATION!”

My DS!!!

Dreams do come true! Yey! I recently got myself a Nintendo DS after a hard-fought and exhaustive period of saving. Yey! It’s so nice and I’m now back to my gaming mode! Woohoo!

Plus, no more buying game cartridges or DVDs-just download ROMs! Yahoo! I can read comic books, watch movies and video files, listen to mp3, and even go online (once I buy the necessary memory adapter), too!

With the NDS, who needs a girlfriend? Weeee!!!!

Shao Hardy!

I grew up watching professional wrestling, of which the “professional” nomenclature means fake, although legendary pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page might disagree—“Wrestling is not fake, it’s fixed!”

I kind of gave up on the whole manly soap opera when some of my favorite performers started to disappear one by one. I still tune in from time to time, if only for the guilty pleasure of over-the-top dialogue and banter between fights.

Little did I know that one of the current stars in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Matt Hardy, bares a striking resemblance to my good, alcoholic of a friend, Shao. I mean check out that pose in the pic! Probably not enough to bring back the wrestling fanatic in me, but, at least we have one more catch phrase for our guitar-toting buddy.

Nostalgia

If there’s one game that I can actually and honestly say I’m competent at, it’s Counter-Strike (CS), the massively popular first-person shooter (FPS) mod of Half Life.

I remember my senior high school to freshmen college days when my life evolved around clan matches of said game. Money was flowing out, but more money was flowing in. Good times.

That’s why it gave me a good sense of nostalgia when we played CS last night in ATC (Rod, Tats, Nuguid, and Reuel). Here’s hoping for more.

No Mercy!

Billiards is not my thing. Sports in general are not my thing. I think I only really got good (relatively) in bowling and fishing…and I think ice skating (I think…). I once got as high as 234 in bowling and was baiting fish to their eternal demise left and right back in the day. And if nothing else, I was quite speedy in skating. Of course, all of this was during the happy times when I was in Japan, so unless I get a hold of my picture albums from then, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

But, getting back to the topic at hand: billiards. Of the handsome group members of Alpha Phi Culalic, Supreme Grandmaster Reuel is the undoubted maestro, tapping into the very reaches of the universe for his heavenly-acquired mad skillz. Nuguid is perhaps his lieutenant, so to speak, and I would rank as a conscript or a draftee—I didn’t even volunteer to be engaging in such a violent sport (?).

To the surprise of all three of us when we played billiards in ATC last night, I went undefeated for a one-hour period of serious ball action.

Reuel was up against Nuguid in the first round, which Reuel handily won. “Challenge the winner” was our rule, so I was up next against Reuel. He went down. Nuguid polished up his own billiards stick (sorry, I don’t know the proper name for that thingy), but he went down just the same. This process continued on for what seems like ages, I couldn’t take a cigarette break. What cruelty!

And so it was that Reuel only had one win and Nuguid had zero for all his troubles and enthusiastic screams of “No Mercy!” I was, I believe, 8 or 9-0 for the night. And it was all good. If only I was as lucky with girls.

Missing Guy!

MISSING PERSON
Since First Semester, AY 2007-2008

Name: Walter Aranza
Nickname: Wally, Wally Boi
Affiliations: Council of Leaders, Collegiate Mover
Hobbies: “Magbuhat ng sariling bangko”
Characteristics: White, hairy, with braces
Last Seen: Vicky Belo Clinic

If found, please report to:
A) National Bureau of Investigation
- Wanted by the International Organization Against Child Pornographers
B) Collegiate Mover
- Charged with being AWOL
C) Alpha Phi Culalic
- For not showing up in group events

REWARD: 1 sachet of Blue Mountain coffee, “The Best Coffee in the WORLD!”

Sayonara, Sir Ed!

Three of my four years of stay in the College Division of SISC was spent working alongside Sir Edward M. Franco in the Office of Student Affairs, primarily for the Supreme Student Council, Collegiate Mover, and the Rotaract Club. Needless to say, these were the most memorable moments of my life so far, what with all the painstaking work, meetings, and what have you.

It’s tough to just wake up one day, go to the office and not see that familiar, tough face of his. Selfishness and attachment makes it difficult to accept the dreams of others, but I (and all others whose lives he touched) should begin to understand that Sir Ed’s future awaits him in Kansas, with his wife and three children.

There, he should be able to take a tight stranglehold of whatever career path he takes. That’s just Sir Ed. If the technology existed today that could pinpoint the defining moments of an individual, Sir Ed’s name would show up in probably 90% of mine.

Today, October 18, 2007, at 10:55 am, Sir Ed will leave this country in search of a dream. There’s no doubt that he will succeed in this search. And we should push ourselves to do the same—to search for our dreams, to soar high, to live life.

In time I have no doubt at all that we would see that iron-clad face of Sir Ed once more. Looks like I have one more thing to add to my dream list.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

As if I needed more reason to shatter my abysmal self-image. Last night (10/16/07), while sitting around the college gate “kubo”, this “KOREAN MOM” (Reuel is smiling right now), came up to me and asked, “You, driver?”, while pointing at a parked van.

Shocked, confused, and absolutely flabbergasted, I could only respond with garbled phrases of “No can drive” and “Me, no license.”

Of course, a suitable and perfectly logical explanation is at hand. You see, in South Korea, where most Koreans come from, a basic requirement for a driver is to have a spectacular body, a godly face, and immutable charm.

The unknowing mom probably assumed that because I have all those qualities, and then some, that I am the person who’ll drive her to some kimchi place or whatever.

Makes sense, right?

Champions!

(October 11, 2007) Congratulations to the Yellow Team and the White Team for winning the championship for the College Cup: Season 7 tournament, basketball and volleyball, respectively

Yellow finally got the title they long deserved after a seemingly magnetic destiny of runners-up finishes. And White showed a classic redemptory attitude demolishing defending champs Yellow in straight sets. I guess Yellow had one too many gold medals; they’ve won it like a gazillion times already.

While it’s a teeny-beety sad that our own White Team in basketball never had such glory, its good that our friends in the more successful White kind of saved the reputation of the color (don’t be a smart ass and tell me that white isn’t technically a color!).

To paraphrase President Adrian Bonifacio (Supreme Student Council), who in turn was quoting the splendid Russel Crowe film, The Gladiator, “College Cup champions, I salute you!”
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*It’d take too long a space to list down the Yellow Team players, so I’d just mention those from the White Team whom I personally know: Tahl Cabañero (mythical), Sachie “The Love of My Life” Capada (mythical), Em Malazarte, France Gochangco, Mia Lustado, and Justine “Lover Girl” Himbing.

Chatbox Galore!

Haloo! Drop your hate messages for Reuel Culalic in the chatbox! See ya there!

A Kiss

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves” – Albert Einstein

Found that quote while miscellaneously browsing the Internet. Somehow cracks me up; reminds of Paulo “Shao” Jaranilla very much. I think it was from the times watching Two Fast Two Furious. You know, from the scene where this guy stares and drives. There wasn’t any lip action in that particular scene, obviously, but I just get that weird déjà vu feeling.

And since Shao has always been the, how shall I put it, “team driver”, I guess that makes him the most eligible guy to spring up in my imagination of a guy kissing a girl while he drives (hmmm…I don’t think that that makes a good impression of my psyche…oh well).

Honestly, though, I’m pretty sure that the guy in question has indeed partaken in such an activity. But did he screw it up just as Einstein implied? A question for the ages!

Boxers interrupted my commercials!

Let’s take a break from the hustle and bustle of this blog to give you a slightly different story on life. Last Sunday (Oct. 8), while watching a special marathon feature of commercials by capitalist opportunists in the Philippines (seen on the country’s benevolent TV network, GMA 7—“serbisyong totoo lamang”), I became frustrated to no end that two boxers duking it out in the ring kept interrupting the program in 10-15 minute intervals. What a shame for the network execs. (greedy little pigs that they are), to disrupt my blissful TV time with non-sensical gladiatorial battles of two no-name fighters.

If I’d have known that that this would happen, I’d have happily paid for a premium on the live coverage of the commercials. Or just watched a DVD. The latter makes more sense, now.

Fiesta Ala Culalic

(October, 4, 2007) This blog, by all intents and purposes, and under a special mandate from no less than the United Nations, is hostile to Reuel Culalic. His cuddly appearance and oh-so-cute female demeanor is too much for this world that we live in. As the next step (backward) in the evolutionary ladder of man, Reuel is a danger to our way of living, to society, and to the general goodness of humanity.

But there are times when forgiveness must be accorded to whom it is due. And when someone goes on a spending spree of *000 for his friends (food, drinks, coffee, cigarettes, and various DVDs of which one type I can only say rhymes with corn), then that qualifies as sufficient grounds for a major pardon.

So, in behalf of the whole Alpha Phi Culalic, White Team, Super Royale Project, and the Federation of Admirers of Ryu’s Temperature (F.A.R.T.), we fully offer our admiration to Reuel Culalic, and award him the prestigious award as seen on the above right.

The End

It was a good run. But in the end, we are 3-3. Man, 7 seasons of College Cup and not once did we make it past the elimination round. Oh well, it was a fun journey. And our last loss against run-and-gun Red Team wasn’t by any means a one-sided affair.

Down by I think 13 in the first half, we were still able to make a game out of it and even lead by 2.

Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be. And yet, it was a good close. And there’s not much else we can ask for.

Test Your Might!

It’s crazy how the mind works. I always thought of myself as a rock-hard, run-of-the-mill young boy, who just like any other normal 18 year old (wehehe) out there is interested only in wanton destruction, violence, and, of course, bo…uhm, I mean…girls.

Anyhow, I now find this funny because recently, while indulging my beautiful “badeh” with copious amounts of smoke coming from my trustee Mild Seven life sticks, my mind kind of just drifted into outer space, visiting along the way purely innocent ideas such as how to save the world, how to conquer said world after saving it, and how best to further abuse the love of my life, Reuel Culalic. Towards the end of this thought process, my brain functions shifted to a more serious topic: pop culture.

I fancy myself as something of a pop-culture enthusiast, and of the many forms of pop culture entertainment, my current top 3 would have to be anime (1), movies (2), and TV (3). Coming in at a respectable fourth and fifth would be books and videogames (on hiatus on account of a dust-infested PS2).

To go back to what I was saying earlier, it just strikes me as odd that while I think of myself as this Rambo-like, take-no-prisoners, shoot first and don’t ask questions later kind of guy, my preferences (or at least my top favorites) in my 3 most adored entertainment mediums belie that notion. Read on: a. my favorite anime is Honey and Clover—a tale of a group of friends in art college and their life turns and tumbles (a love story); b. my favorite movie is Taiyou no Uta (English title: Midnight Sun/A Song to the Sun)—starring my future wife YUI as a moon girl who fell for a sun boy (another love story); c. my favorite TV series is Good Luck!!—a J-dorama about an airline pilot and a female mechanic (also a love story). YIKES!!

Oh holy of holy, is the ever-fierce Ryu Uchida a closet romantic? What mystery! What intrigue! What trivial inconsequence!

List down your faves too and see if it matches your thoughts on your respective personas! IT’S FUN!!!

Double KO

And here I thought Daniel Powter’s song, “Bad Day”, was really kinda cheerful. That is until a really bad day hits you right smack in the noggin. What a day.

To start it off, we badly lost our crucial fifth game against Black in the College Cup tournament. We’re now 3-2. To add insult to injury, I lost Php 200 in my first ever casino outing in PAGCOR. Damn roulette ball! Damn 00!!!

To put things in perspective, Php 200 would already buy me around 4 movie DVDs or one or two TV or anime series. Oh man!

But, not everything was bleak. Gambling with Reuel and Ate Jenehy was fun and exhilarating. And we didn’t hit any motorcycles coming home (wink!).