Evermoon Zenith

UC Davis, the university that I'm really aiming for, just informed me that they had not received my application, and so I was not considered for the program. This really REALLY upsets me. I'm sure I placed the right address on the envelope containing my materials, and my aunt told me that she sent it before the deadline. I'm not inclined to disbelieve her, since the other university to which she sent materials was able to receive them. What could have gone wrong? I really wanted to get into UC Davis, and I know that had my application been reviewed, I would have had a good chance. Now, unless they're miraculously kind enough to allow me to re-submit way after the deadline, my chance to get into UC Davis is gone. And not because I was deemed not worthy enough for their school. I'd have preferred THAT.

Duke University turned me down around three weeks ago. That was OK, since I really thought it was a longshot, but now I'm down to just one: University of Wisconsin-Madison. If I fail to get into that school, don't expect to see or hear much of me in the next few months. I wouldn't really know what to do next.

The girls were so much better than the guys this week. But I'm sure (fingers crossed) that next week will be better. Here's my top 12 (preferred, not projected) at the end of this week's round:

Melinda Doolittle (along with Lakisha, my favorite among the girls)
Stephanie Edwards
Gina Glocksen
Lakisha Jones (along with Melinda, my fave among the girls)
Blake Lewis (my favorite among the guys right now)
Chris Richardson
Brandon Rogers
Chris Sligh
Sabrina Sloan
Jordin Sparks
Phil Stacey
AJ Tabaldo

Who should go tonight: Sundance Head, Rudy Cardenas, Alaina Alexander, Amy Krebs

Not necessarily my dream casting for Ayanami Rei; just thought of having fun with the image. Then again, Dakota Fanning usually looks creepy, so she might be able to pull it off.

My justifications in general and for each one (with pics) are on my blog (http://film-otaku.blogspot.com), but here's what I want to hear when (if?) the cast for the film is finally announced:

Ikari Shinji: Yagira Yuuya (Nobody Knows)
Asuka Langley: Emma Watson (duh...Harry Potter)
Katsuragi Misato: Matsushima Nanako (Ringu, GTO, etc.)
Ikari Gendou: Sanada Hiroyuki (Ringu, The Last Samurai, etc.)
Akagi Ritsuko: Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love, Hero, etc.)
Ryoji Kaji: Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chungking Express, House of Flying Daggers, etc.)
Fuyutsuki Kouzou: Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano (Gohatto, Zatoichi, Battle Royale, etc.)
Rei Ayanami: ?

The Chinese river dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) has just been declared extinct. I didn't think such a species would die out within my lifetime.

This world would be so much better off without us humans.

Currently on the fourth episode of Season 2 of Honey & Clover, and I'm loving it. I've realized that it's one of the most well-written anime that I've ever seen. It now ranks third in my all-time favorite anime list (1st is Evangelion, 2nd Kare Kano). And my heart reaches out to Ayu; everytime she cries I wanna hug her! Can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes...and find out what's gonna happen with Hagu and Takemoto.

Philippine Idol is really beginning to look like a joke. Last week, my favorites Pow and Drae were in the bottom 4, and Drae (who I thought had the best voice among the guys) got voted off. And now, after what in my opinion was the best Philippine Idol performance by anyone that I've seen so far (Be My Lady), Reymond gets kicked out. Wtf?! Ryan Cayabyab was obviously distressed, saying that if the best ones get voted off early, the show is going to end up being a fiasco. Right on, Maestro. His and Hajji Alejandro's (Pilita's comments hardly count; she's more useless than an intoxicated Paula Abdul) are wasted weekly on most of the voters, who'd rather go for good looks (ahemJeliahem) than talent. Crap. Reymond was BRILLIANT. Sad.

It was a heartbreaking defeat. Really really painful. Seeing Doug Kramer (who made the magic shot in game 1), Macky Escalona (who made 28 huge points), and JC Intal (our MVP, plain and simple), all playing in their last year, crying after the game made me cry, too.

But WIN OR LOSE, IT'S THE SCHOOL WE CHOOSE. Those three, and everyone in the team, embody the fierceness of determination, heart, and spirit. They gave it their all and fought until the end, giving us the most exciting run since the 2002 championships. We have to admit, early on we dismissed the chances of this team, what with LA Tenorio and Japeth Aguilar leaving the team. But they proved us wrong, and if this is how it is to be proven wrong, I wouldn't mind that happening more often.

Thank you Doug, Macky, JC, Coach Norman, and everyone on the team.

ANIMO ATENEO! ONE BIG FIGHT!

GO ATENEO! ONE BIG FIGHT!! That win, courtesy of Norman Black's coaching, Macky Escalona's inbound pass, and Doug Kramer's shot was MAGIC.

Isa na lang!

Check it out here (bilis talaga ng youtube hehe):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pranPn7dy8Y

My dog Yuffie, a Chihuahua-Shitzu, died last Saturday. I loved him (yup, a he named after a female character; just felt right that time) and I mourned his loss tremendously. Even now, while I'm writing this, I still feel really sad and empty, especially while I'm looking at the few pics of him that I have. I'll really miss him, and I'll never forget him. I'll always strive to keep my fond memories of him.

Yes, I do watch the pageant. But for some time now, I haven't rooted for a candidate as much as I did this year. But just like the last time (1999, when Philippine candidate Miriam Quiambao fell one place short of the title), I ended up disappointed. Japan's Kurara Chibana had it all: looks (whoa), smart answers (atypical, but cute, charming, and still smart), a fanbase (the cheers for her were thunderous), and a killer national costume (literally: she wore a sort of samurai suit; it won Best National Costume, deservedly so). But she still lost to Puerto Rico's Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, who admittedly was the more typical Miss Universe. This makes it Puerto Rico's fifth Miss Universe crown. Japan has had only one. Come on, if Chibana's answer to the final question had been bad (as Quiambao's had been in 1999), I'd understand her loss. But it wasn't. Maybe the male judges (which most of them were) didn't like her answer about male violence toward women being something she wanted to change. I'm just really disappointed.

Japan, a country I love for practically everything about its culture, has succeeded in leading an overturn of the moratorium on hunting whales. Japan and its allies were able to pass a resolution deeming the moratorium, which was set to curb whaling, "no longer necessary." Now they can go back to doing what they've always wanted to do, which is to murder marine mammals (though Norway never let the moratorium stop it). I am very very sad and angry about this, as I'm sure many other people are.

Tonight, one of my closest friends left the job that we've shared for close to three years. We've been a tandem in zoo and ecology for that long a time, and together we've done more for our department than many of those old foggies have in their x years backbiting each other and watching out for themselves. It's easy to tell that I'm pissed. In fact, I've been passed for more than a year now. I love my job, I love the kids, I love the school, but getting f***ed over the lack of a piece of paper despite all the things you've done is just plain wrong. Today, my friend, one of the people who has cared for the welfare of the department the most, was the casualty. Tomorrow (more technically, next sem), it's going to be me.

I can't properly articulate how sad and angry I am that things are turning out this way. In a school I love and have such fierce loyalty to. We deserve more. The bastards just don't care, feeling all high and mighty just because they've got their Ph.D.s and permanent status. F*** that, that doesn't make them better people.

When I go, I'll make myself a promise that I'll come back with a vengeance (not necessarily violent, of course). But I will be better. Let them try to step on us then. In the meantime, I'll still do the job that I love doing. They can rot in their misery for all I care.

Ten years ago, it was 1996. Take this survey and see how many
things have changed since then.

1) How old were you?
THEN: 14
NOW: 24

2) Where did you go to school?
THEN: Ateneo High School
NOW: The Marine Science Institute, UP-Diliman

3) Where did you work?
THEN: Too young to work
NOW: Too young to leave school haha. Ateneo de Manila.

4) Where did you live?
THEN: I'm actually not sure (I've moved more times than I can easily count), but I think...BF Resort, Las Pinas
NOW: Palos Verdes, Antipolo

5) How was your hairstyle?
THEN: Short but unbelievably messy (I didn't use hairstyling products then)
NOW: Gone back to not using any products on my hair, and I'm growing it to near-shoulder length

6) Did you wear braces?
THEN: No
NOW: No

7) Did you wear contacts?
THEN: No
NOW: No

8) Did you wear glasses?
THEN: No
NOW: Yes

9) Who was your best friend?
THEN: Jumbo, JR and Paolo
NOW: Jumbo, JR and JP

10) Which of your pets were still alive?
THEN: Whoa, just thought about it and...I didn't have any pets at that time. Sad.
NOW: Coozie, Reika, Wakka (all mongrels), my babies Deedlit (pomeranian-spitz) and Yuffie (chihuahua-shitzu), and a new dog that I'm beginning to really like, Ichigo (doberman-pit bull). Yup, me like hybrids haha

11) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend?
THEN: None
NOW: None. Sad. Haha

12) Who was your celebrity crush?
THEN: In 1996? I don't remember.
NOW: Katharine McPhee, Angela Aki

13) Who was your regular-person crush?
THEN: None
NOW: A few pretty people here and there...there are a lot of them in Ateneo hehe

14) How many piercings did you have?
THEN: None
NOW: None

15) How many tattoos did you have?
THEN: None
NOW: None

16) What was your favorite band/singer?
THEN: Alanis Morissette, Mariah Carey, Jewel
NOW: Tori Amos, Cynthia Alexander, Enya

17) What was your favorite movie?
THEN: Now and Then, The Joy Luck Club
NOW: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Shakespeare in Love

18) What was your favorite song?
THEN: All the songs in Mariah's Daydream and Alanis's Jagged Little Pill, Who Will Save Your Soul?, I Love You Always Forever
NOW: Crazy (Patsy Cline), Into the West (Annie Lennox)

19) What was your favorite TV Show?
THEN: Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Nanny
NOW: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Will & Grace, CSI, American Idol

20) Had you smoked cigarettes?
THEN: No
NOW: No

21) Had you gotten drunk?
THEN: No
NOW: I don't really think I got drunk that time... (defensive haha)

22) Had you DRIVEN?
THEN: No
NOW: Yes

23) If so which car?
THEN: N/A
NOW: Family car, Mazda pickup

24) Looking back, are you where you thought you would be in 2006?
Nope. Back in '96 I had no idea what I wanted to be ten years in the future.

25) What you looked like?
THEN: Right now, I have no pics of myself back then. The same, just a bit slimmer, unruly hair
NOW:

It was to be expected. Katharine McPhee soared anew with "Over the Rainbow" and made a valiant effort at making "My Destiny" sound like a remotely good song (she failed, bless her heart for trying), but Taylor Hicks was the obvious winner early on (nope, Chris, it wasn't you). And he deserves it. He's kooky and odd, but he's got a very good voice and he's a natural performer. I'm a bit sad that Kat didn't win, but hey, as long as she makes an album, I'm ok with it. Congratulations, Soul Patrol!

Another ecology field trip has gone by. This is the third that I've planned (along with my constant collaborator, JP), and it never ceases to amaze me how we're able to pull it off with such little time in our hands to do so. But we've done it again, and it even turned out better than I had hoped for. Of course, there were also some things that the trip would have been better off without. Here are the good and the bad of the trip:

BAD

-The vans we rented came late. If we had rented buses, they'd have come an hour earlier than agreed upon. The vans came at least an hour LATE. But they were the best option, since they were rented by my contact, who was the only one who knew where the resort was.
-Because the vans (and one of the students) were late, we got to work in the intertidal area at around 2pm. By that time, it was high tide and the waves were nasty, sending the substrate into murky chaos. I'd have loved the kids to have been able to study the area low tide and clear water conditions, but JP and I didn't have a choice. And so they had to contend with choppy waves and low visibility.
-THE MANGROVES SUCKED. Worst mangroves I've seen in my life. Not only were there only three species, the whole place swam with garbage! Instead of having to worry about seasnakes, it was bacterial infection that was the main concern. And when I asked my contact, Jessie , why there was so much garbage, he said it all came from the neighboring island. Ummm...sure, the people leaving on this shoreline had nothing to do with the pollution. Riiiiiiight. Whatever. Problem with these people is that they always feel that they're suffering from the faults of others. Sorry, I just can't sympathize with them so much.
-One of the vans got into an accident involving a tricycle. No one got hurt, but the poor guys in it had to wait for all the ensuing hassle (i.e. police stuff) before they got to leave. They got to Ateneo at least a full hour after the other vans got back. And someone (incidentally, the same student who arrived late) had to force the van to take a long detour to take him home. Seriously, that guy needs to come out of his little world and realize that what he does affects other people.

GOOD

-It was lots of fun. I'm sure the kids will agree that despite all the hard work, the whole two days were still very enjoyable. The accommodations were ok, and the beach that we had in front of the resort was all right (especially late at night, though I didn't get to explore then). The kids played around in the water and in their cottages a lot, and drank some, and we had a bonfire contest, and then they drank some more hehe.
-Though there was still a lot of the "block mentality" still going on, it was very nice to see the juniors bond, as they shoud be doing. Tsk tsk, if the lecture class hadn't been split into two, they'd have been more bonded already...
-I got to talk to some kids that I normally don't get to talk to that much. I usually hang out either with either my DnD group from L1 (including kurayamiko and riesespieces), or with the L2 guys. Talking to Tantan, Jigjig, Berry, Anika, and Mimi was a lot of fun (yihee, Berry and C*****), and this fun extended to the van going home when we had this game where we had to give names of local celebrities whose names started with a certain letter. It's unbelievably fun to hear people giving out names of celebrities you thought only you knew. Grabe si Pam dito, extensive pala ang knowledge of jologs culture haha.
-The resort owner, Mrs. Borromeo, was nice enough to have us pay just for one day instead of two. That's a P600 refund for everyone. Yehey!

Overall, it was probably the best ecology field trip we've had so far (despite the mangroves). If only every school weekend could be like that haha

BEST KAT PERFORMANCE EVER.

Too bad she's still in danger of going home...

What an odd, amusing thing. I'm currently compiling a list of the scariest movie scenes that I've watched for my film blog, so I go to IMDb to find info and pics on Fire in the Sky, a 1993 alien abduction movie that scared the living hell out of me when I was a kid. I couldn't sleep easily or look out windows or even be alone for a long time afterward. Just curious, I look at the Boards on the film and there are dozens of posts detailing how they reacted just that same way when they watched it at the age of 11, or 12, or 13. I was 12 when I watched it. How weird is that? Someone said that it might have been a grand brainwashing conspiracy for kids my age hehe. Another one suggested that we form a support group. That cracked me up, but why the heck not? Perhaps there are others there who are yet to come out and reveal the horror that this film had stirred in their hearts...hehe

Two things I don't like, although the first IS going to get me a laptop soon. My friend JP helped me get a laptop today at Greenhills, and I would have gotten it had there not been a problem with my credit card. I won't even attempt to explain it here, since I don't understand it much myself, but it has something to do with my credit limit not being high enough to cover the whole amount. All along, I thought that they'd only check the amount per month (in a 12-month installment plan) against my credit limit, but apparently I (and JP) had thought wrong. Well anyway, I gave a downpayment already and should be getting the laptop either Friday this week or early next week. About freakin' time I had a laptop.

Before that, I came from the Kodak service center at Makati. Early diagnosis (not final) is that there may be something wrong with the lens. Repair for it would take P5-6 k, +P1850 for labor. The guy responsible for its condition DID say he'd pay for it, but I'd still rather have it covered by the warranty. Problem is, my tita, who lives in the US, bought it there last October, and she might not have the receipt anymore. I'm gonna email her asap and ask her if she still has it, hoping against hope that she still does. Ok daw fax copy ng receipt, in case you're wondering hehe.

After coming from Greenhills, I came upon a know-it-all on the LRT. He was telling his friend that "The Da Vinci Code," the one starring Tom Hanks, was already shown in 2002 but wouldn't be shown here in the Philippines until two weeks from now because of the Catholic Church. Ummm...ooooookay. And he sounded so confident about it. I just don't like people like that who barely know what they're saying but pretend that they do.

Anyway, having had an early morning class then gone to Makati, then Ortigas, then Greenhills, then back to Ateneo, I'm dead tired. And stinking like something nasty died under my shirt. Hehe bad visuals...

Finished Kingdom Hearts II over the long weekend. It's a fantastic game, the type that you wouldn't want to end right away (like a really good novel). But at least now, I've got time to start Suikoden V.

At long last, Kellie Pickler has left the competition that she shouldn't have lasted so long in. Now the five left are really the best five, so I'm happy. It's sad, though, that Paris and Elliott will have to go next. Then again, my three favorites are Taylor, Chris, and of course, my beloved Kat. In related news, votefortheworst.com encourages everyone to vote for..."Paula Rehabdul." Hahahaha. That is, until they choose their next "worst" after Kelly. Good luck; she's a tough act to follow.