radio ga ga

Thank you for your comments about DWLS and we commend your loyalty and patronage of its former format. The decision to change our programming was based on research studies and was driven by the objective of reaching a bigger audience. As a matter of fact, DWLS has lost a significant amount of revenue from advertisers who were supportive of the previous format. GMA Network is absorbing that revenue loss only because it is in exchange for providing more listeners with programming that research shows they prefer. We respect and thank you for your strong disagreement with our decision but we hope that it will somehow be tempered by your knowing that DWLS now provides listening fun to more listeners. And we certainly hope and wish for you to continue enjoying radio no matter what station you listen to.

All the best.

Mike Enriquez
GMA Network, Inc.
Senior Vice-President For Radio

of course, the need to reach bigger audiences is due to the need for more revenue. it's always been that way, hasn't it?

why can't they be the rock in a raging river and stand against the flow? must they really conform with the rest of the horrible stations? what makes them think that they will attract new audiences when such audiences have already a lot of crap to choose from? their [former] loyal fanbase would account for a lot more than "new audiences".

the move to remove what was their only strength against abs-cbn was a move of stupid greed. it didn't do anything but raise even more negative sentiments towards gma. i mean, it's already considered the b-channel of the country with what used to be the a-radio station.

quoting freddie mercury, "all we hear is radio ga ga, radio blah blah."

we really need a classic rock station, folks. 96.3, 97.9, nor 107.1 (is it that? i'm not sure) isn't going to cut it. we need the pillars of rock.

at its very worst

i never thought my once-beloved campus radio could go lower than it already is.

before its format change, it used to play 70% crap and 30% good stuff. hell, before that it used to play 70% good stuff and 30% crap, and it always redeemed itself with retro jam every sunday.

now, look! it has conformed with the other horrible-as-hell radio stations. where abs-cbn was weak with its godforsaken 101.9, gma was once strong with its halfway decent top 40-format radio station. conforming to the "masa" genre does not do anything good for gma's output quality, which abs-cbn already rules over TV with.

so please, SIGN THIS PETITION! help bring back the glory that was once campus radio. we don't need another sorry excuse for a radio station.

on the other hand, why don't we have a classic rock station?

why in the hell did i jump?

it's been almost a year, but up to now, i still don't know why in the hell i jumped. maybe i was young and stupid. maybe i was desperate. maybe there was an actual, genuine spark.

whatever it was, i'm still not sure, and i still kick myself for it.

if i can't have it all, just a taste will do

one of my candy-coated weaknesses, along with my steadfast loyalty to any of my friends and my natural amiability, is my utmost desire to make the most out of every day. i believe that while you're unconscious (i.e. sleeping), you're missing out on a lot. i agree with what gliza said about sleeping early being unproductive, and that is the reason why staying up late became a habit of mine (started around my grade school graduation when i discovered chatting). since then, i feel a tinge of regret whenever i take a nap and wake up to find that three or more hours have passed (however, lately i find that a good thing due to my lack of sleep).

this is why i feel bad whenever i'm left out of something i could've been in. this is why i was so torn up between going to father and son or the lsyc retreat when both were still scheduled for the same weekend (though i cannot go to camp anymore since the schedule cannot permit us). this is why i felt bad when i heard leiron's adventures at the hotel while i was sleeping.

when you look at it closely, this kind of thing is annoyingly shallow. there is usually no point worrying about spilled milk; it just shows that i tend to think a lot about what could've been, only denying or even patronizing my own inaction - which is, in itself, not good.

maybe i just don't get my fair share of "memz lolz"? but i get a lot already, don't i? what the hell is wrong with me? maybe i'm just trying to run away from all the bad of the world by making up for it with the good.

however, that can only happen in a perfect world. you and i know that this world is far from perfect.

why falling in love is so goddamn hard

after days of deserved incessant prodding from suji, i finally wrote another article for the damned cl magazine, about romantic love. for some reason, i went about writing the article in the writing style i had when i came back from the states (which i was praised for in the retreat and which i seemed to have lost over time). just thought i'd share it with you.

The Trouble With Love Is…

It’s already February, and the scenario is unsurprisingly common in the month of love; a guy or girl “falls” head over heels “in love” with someone who is hopefully of the opposite sex, goes to great lengths to win that person over, and depending on Cupid’s mood, either gets the ending he/she wants or ends up dumbfounded in the middle of the street. Now, assuming that said person got the “bad ending”, he or she will easily dismiss it and forget his or her object of affection the next day, as if he or she did not go through anything at all.

This is where the most important question of a hormonal adolescent comes up into the equation: where does one draw the line between infatuation and true love?

It’s all too common to see teenagers declaring their “love” for another, and rather rare to see people acknowledging infatuation itself. Most get so wrapped up in their own emotions and passion that it automatically registers as love love in their psyches, but will find out soon enough that it isn’t the case, usually after when that infatuation fades away quickly as it came.

So where does one draw the line? Is it when one’s emotions for someone transcend the barrier of stomach butterfly-inducing looks? Is it when one is willing to look past faults that would usually make another person turn his head the other way? Whatever it is, most young people don’t know what it is – but they should know, and while they don’t, they will continually make a fool of themselves saying that they are “deeply in love” with someone when they are a few cards short of love’s full deck.

So what should one do?

The solution to that is actually a really simple one: stop, think, and take small steps. In a normal situation, no one is forcing anyone to have a relationship or anything – it’s all in the head. Once one starts thinking and reevaluating his or her true intent, he or she might find that his or her feelings of “deep romantic love” may actually lack the conviction it needs.

Now, if anyone who’s “madly in love” would actually take the time and do this, we’d have lesser love problems in the world

opm blues part 2

i was listening to 101.9 this afternoon (like i had any choice in the matter), and thus, i got to listen to today's latest, for the lack of a better word, crap. yes, friends, when i say "crap" in this entry, i talk about the rest of the genre that is original pilipino music. (why "rest of the genre"? there are some really good bands amidst the anarchy... hence, "diamonds in the rough").

it was then that i noticed a particular annoying common denominator, which happens to be what is dragging down the genre right now.

have you noticed that 95% of all opm songs talk about nothing but love, in all its common and obvious forms? declaration of love, loss of love, wanton breakups, they're all the same, singing about love this and love that.

it's what makes 6cyclemind and cueshe horribly redundant and stale, and what makes bamboo, rivermaya, and sandwich unique. rivermaya, despite oft-repeating the equally annoying theme of patriotism (which bamboo also does likewise, but to a certain extent), knows when to sing about something else, a skill bamboo and sandwich masterfully wield at the same time.

at a minor tangent, 6cyclemind is horribly repetitive with similar themes, both lyrically and musically. i already know what to expect from their lead singer whose voice is horribly stale as well.

the thing that makes radioactive sago project special is that they don't immediately hand over the meaning of their songs in a silver spoon; the challenge for you is to find out what the hell exactly are they going on about. however, when cueshe announces that they have a new single or album, you know immediately that it will be full of whining.

the industry cannot progress if you'll all be going on about the same thing - it will make the whole pool stale. take some advice; sing about something else, sing about trivial things, sing about the state of society, sing about a psychological disorder, sing about a bad habit, sing with random lyrics inserted into jam sessions, i don't care what you sing about - as long as it's not love.

afflicted

i just made a startling discovery about myself today.

i realized, while half-asleep, that i snore really loudly.

i mean, sure, my best friend told me that i snored during her LSYC retreat, but i thought that was just the quiet, restrained sort of snoring. however, i was half-asleep this afternoon when i heard my thunderous snoring!

if anything, i am ashamed of it. i abhorred justin's snoring because it barely helped me to sleep in the car, and now i'm afflicted with it. my prior knowledge (eeew LCLE term) of loud snoring tells me that fat people and sick people are stricken with loud snoring, and to look on the bright side, at least i'm getting fatter. :))

anyway, my eagles addiction has turned into a queen addiction. like i said, my musical tastes change like the ebbing of the tides.

hello, young lovers, wherever you are

any high school student will tell you that prom season rolls along with valentine season. it's naturally the season of love and couples [who haven't been around for the rest of the school year] are springing up.

like i said in my post titled "somebody to love", this category excludes me (and negs). this year, both my brothers have relationships! (that's a first, and i'm quite proud of that.) as for me, the raison this year is that i deliberately choose not to shackle myself to a commitment, rather than the fact that there is no one to commit to. (to give myself a bit of an ego-boost, if i wanted a commitment now, i would already be in one.)

of course, this is my present mindset until if ever fate decides to play her wild card and make me fall madly in love with someone.

which i really doubt, but there's always that risk. =))

death in eight letters

you can build up all the facades you want to build in your life, but you are a dead man if you let the things that attack your inner self get to you. like, for example, paranoia.

it gets the best of us, that nagging fear in the back of your mind, twisting your everyday routine and spinning a web of worry. my particular kind of paranoia is the kind that makes me think whether someone is mad at me or not.

a simple fleeting gesture, or the lack thereof, can be misconstrued by someone as a gesture of ill will, and it's the mark of either an insecure mind or an unstable relationship. what someone says or doesn't say, does or doesn't do can be misconstrued.

and damn, it's driving me crazy. i spend needless minutes and hours worrying about something that shouldn't be worried about; something that's just all in my twisted head. what kind of a man does that make me? knowing that, who can truly define me, and what is my true description? does that unravel my confident eminence front?

i really need to get a grip on life sometimes... i always vow to throw away the needless baggage, but end up keeping them.

war in peace

i'm talking to bea right now and she's talking about wanting peace on earth. i was going to make a joke about being miss universe, but she said something so i had to reply to that. anyway, so after she said that peace on earth line, i got to thinking: "do i want peace on earth?"

of course i do.

but the problem is that, yeah, it's supposed to begin with you, but i can't even start peace! i don't know if i'm subliminally or deliberately making war, but the fact of the matter is i'm not a harbinger of peace myself, even if i wanted to be. i mean, look. i'm in a feud right now with one of my classmates, while his cronies are grinding their teeth at me, but not joining in the feud.

so, yes, i want peace on earth... but i can't seem to achieve it. it seems that i get into some beef sooner or later. it's actually funny that as my senior year ends, the fights start to spring up. no worries; i'm ready.

life in the fast lane

(this is not a post about graduation - read closely!)

time goes by so fast.

like my nigga said, it was just like yesterday when i came back for [what is hopefully] my final round. it seems like yesterday when we graduated from grade school and entered what is now the fully-explored world of high school.

the final frontier is almost upon us.

i honestly cannot believe that we're grown up already. my two sisters are not what they used to be when i first came across them. most of my batchmates underwent radical transformations over the four-year time period. it seems like yesterday when both froques and rod were still fat. it seems like yesterday since our band tagaytay excursion. it seems like yesterday when i was still standing at around 5'3". people have changed so much since the old memories i have of them.

nostalgia is a good thing, and maybe i'm tired of the present already. maybe that's why i draw upon and cherish the past more. they were the good times, weren't they? you could do anything without people giving a damn about you.

i still can't fathom it. people have changed so much, both inside and outside. and guess what - they're still changing, and like i told johann (albeit in a different context), "i'm not used to it."

maybe i just miss our old selves.

got a feeling '07 is gonna be a good year

happy new year!

i don't know if you could say that this blog is still "going strong", but i have a lot of faith in it and i think that i can get it back to its former glory just by keeping it alive. hell, if eddie guerrero (God rest his soul, and we miss you a lot) can do it with his life, i can do it with my blog! so, let's roll with the new year!

year-end notes

if i could call any one of the 16 years of my life a whirlwind, i would have to pick 2006. (so far.) why? it's all too obvious.

i entered this year knowing fully that i wouldn't be in the same place to enter the next year. when the time came for me to leave, i didn't want to go, but i accepted it anyway, knowing that my dreams will finally be fulfilled in the land of milk and honey.

while i was there, i had a nagging feeling that i'd be ending this year back at home. i'm not sure if it was rebellious optimism or a plain nagging feeling in the back of my head, but there was this some measure of certainty about my "prediction". and, lo and behold, all the teary goodbyes i had early in the summer were nullified, my pride was sorta shot down, and we had to go back home, 2 and a half weeks into the school year. luckily i didn't miss much, and luckily i didn't have to introduce myself to my adviser, who would turn out to be my omnipresent second father, sir lasap (nonoy is the third... no, he happens to be more of a kuya). senior-c happily welcomed me into their ranks. i haven't a tinge of regret for every moment with them, ever since.

the whole irony of it all is that once i got back, it didn't take too long for me to decide that the place for me was the states. i mean, come on, i couldn't realize my dream back home. i could only pioneer the industry at home when i was well-established. no, i have to go back soon. the second stint here at home shouldn't last well beyond graduation.

and things got muddied up along the way - plans are unsure, but i'm hoping for the best. 2006 was an adventure for me, and now i'm looking forward to the big '07.

cheers!

songs half sung

christmas caroling has lost all its former glory - at least it has, here in the Philippines.

its original premise of bringing about christmas cheer to each house in the neighborhood has taken a back seat to the shady, underhanded goal of making a quick peso. if, in the states, a well-organized troupe of singing children, adults, or both get to sing a good repertoire of
christmas carols, here in the Philippines, anyone, mostly streetchildren, will go right up to you in the street or in your church parking lot and half-heartedly sing you the undying "sa may
bahaaayyy...". they deserve a peso or lower for such acts. but since i'm such a softie, they get a minimum of five pesos from me.

i think caroling should have a rating system - i mean, you get plus points (more money) for effort. i mean, it's so easy to sing a song using a slightly improved version of your normal speaking voice - therefore, it's so easy to just hand you five pesos. and we all know
how much five pesos amounts to nowadays.

and isn't it annoying on how the money becomes an automatic off switch? i mean, once they get
their hands on it, they stop singing. the good carolers finish off their repertoire before leaving, and trust me, we rarely get good carolers.

please, give caroling the dignity it once had and has in other countries. going out and giving money to those who are literally begging for it, despite how good or bad they sing, has become
a chore for me, instead of an opportunity to be really entertained.

the sun shines, people forget

i'm pissed at my parents because they stereotype blacks.

yes, they stereotype blacks. i don't want to call it downright racism yet, though.

they don't want to move to somewhere in the States with a high population count of the said "minority". they don't want me to go to a college with black kids. why, you ask? apparently, black people are "too violent", which is the picture painted by gangsta rap and gang violence.

yes, tupac and biggie smalls did die of drive-bys. yes, the crips are a notorious african-american gang. but hell, that's just the outside! come on, a crime of one person does not equal to a crime of the whole race. just because they're unfairly associated with violence does not mean that every african-american is violent. hell, i want a black best friend! (aside from negs, that is.)

it's not fair. i get annoyed when they talk about blacks with such a negative connotation. they're trying to avoid them like a plague. it's just not fair.

all i've got here is my pride

if you ask anyone who knows me about what i'm like, one of the things they'll tell you is that i'm proud - sometimes too proud for my own good. and some people will say that sometimes, or most of the time, it gets to my head.

yeah, sure, i've accepted that definition of me; in fact, i endorse it. i say, too much pride is better than an absolute zero confidence.

that doesn't mean i'm not humble, though; in fact, lately i've learned to give the spotlight to those who truly deserve it, telling them to "savor the moment", because in all honesty, they really should if they deserve to. i acknowledge bragging rights to those who have them.

i seriously think that pride is a key human element. you just can't allow people to walk all over you and your pride - without even just a little sense of pride, you'd be no better off than an animal. you are a human being, you have good qualities somewhere in there, and it's your job to take those good qualities and display them like the trophies they are. just don't overdo it.

as for me, i inherited my overflowing pride from my parents, most especially my father - he's just a very accomplished man, and the stories he tells about his own father make me feel that i'm part of a legacy that is, to quote my idol, reeking with awesomeness. i also have great company and they contribute to my pride and confidence. i also have dreams; the career path i dream of taking requires me to always keep my chin up.

so, there. take your pride, stick it where the sun shines, and make sure to back it up always.

eloquence

lately i've been talking in speeches.

whether i'm proving a point or just making fun of someone, i break into a speech. it's not your typical martin luther king jr. speech, but more of a "wrestler-inside-the-ring" speech. i think it's fun, and good training for the future. who knows if i'll make it as someone's manager - it's as likely as being a 'rassler itself.

in other news, the soujourn in the warbirds' nest was really fun. one warbird is in trouble, and the others must back him up.

level up

experience, the wonderful thing we gain as we live life day to day, is meant to be cherished and remembered. experience teaches you things that might come in handy in the future, because experience is easily considered by many to be the best teacher around (next to sir cortel, that is). a wise person is wise because of experience.

so why didn't zobel, or rather, its administration, in all their wisdom, learn from experience?

two years ago, a learning system known as the LCLE, where a certain topic is integrated into almost everything, was snuck past us and shoved down our throats for a trial run. it was unanimously decided that it never worked and no one, student nor teacher, liked it at all. sure, we were sports and decided to give it a try back then, but only because we did not know que horror.

so everyone got a brief respite last year. we thought that was the end of it.

but no. despite initial negative reactions, the Great Minds^TM that run zobel have soldiered on and further insist to shove the much-maligned system down our throats once more, this time in full force. here we are back again to the many complaints, whines, and death threats that the horrible system has spawned, and i agree to each complaint without hesitation.

we have given it ample time to try and make converts out of us, but that didn't work back then and it doesn't seem to be working now.

rumors go around of teachers planning to quit because of the sheer stupidity of LCLE, and there's been already one confirmed report (i won't tell you who it is, though). no one wants to use it, no one wants to do it. it's simple.

to The Powers That Be^TM, are you blind? deaf? do you not hear the groans of your students? do you not see the utter disdain on their faces? what exactly is it do you plan to prove?

mr. evp has lost all credibility amongst the student population. that, my friends and readers, is a fact, and not false slander. this won't be the last thing you're gonna hear from me about this issue; nay, this is just the beginning.

i dare you to come get some.

big III

today marks the last CET out of the three i'll be taking here in the philippines, if you don't count SATs (by the way, i need help on this one...in all my wisdom, i have no damned idea how to set myself up to take the SATs. somehow and unfortunately, i have become dependent on ms. isidro). out of the big three, UP was the one wherein i went all-out, because i couldn't care less whether i pass or fail green and/or blue.

why is this the case? so that if ever the 2% chance of me not leaving after all completely owns the other 98%, i'd be in the school i really wanted to be in before i realized that i want to make it abroad.

there could be a million reasons why that might happen; either paperwork gets through or because of obligations i must remain dedicated to (right now, such obligations are nonexistent). a lot can change in the course of a year, much less a number of months; this is exemplified in wrestling, wherein we may never know if DX could split up next month or someone like randy orton might become champion from under our noses next week.

as jr says in one of his most famous lines, "anything can happen in the WWE!"

oh, i've gone on too much again =)) technically, we can replace "the WWE" with "life". you never know if you're going to survive to see tomorrow (but of course, there's a high chance you will) or you never know if i'm going to end up with a new girl this time next week. (hmm... do i even want to?)

ah, well. 'til next we meet, kinsmen.

dementia paradox

i've discovered that i've been quite forgetful lately.

i think of something to do or say, but just distract me, throw me off-tangent even for a while and i lose it. "ano nga ulit yung sasabihin ko?" seems to be my new catchphrase. sure, i will get it back after a few seconds or minutes, but the mere fact that i forget what it was i wanted to do or say scares me. what if it worsens? what if i get alzheimer's when i grow old?

funny thing is that my brain allows me to reach far back into my childhood and deep into the recesses of my mind to dig up trivia, but i can't even remember what i was thinking about five seconds ago.

if i'm getting alzheimer's, i'd rather that it comes as an after-effect of 20-foot leaps, not something that's slowly taking over from out of nowhere. ah, well.