Goodbye MJ

Aside from the thousands music files on my PC, there are 5 mp3's located at my desktop for easy access. I play them whenever I just feel like playing a song over and over again. She is Love by Parachute, Manhattan from the Sky by Kate Voegele, The Red Pill by JabbaWockeeZ, and 2 versions of Human Nature by Craig David and Michael Jackson. I never miss a day without playing these 5 songs.

His demise is a big loss to the music industry. It's saddening to think that his life as a gifted and creative artist is sometimes buried by controversies

His powerful songs that inspire and help millions of listener will never be forgotten. His legacy lives on. He will surely be missed...

Goodbye...

Who are you...9.75?

Tonight, I sat beside the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life. I only saw half of her face and for about a second, but I am 100% certain that she is definitely a 9.75. Actually she is the first the 9.75 ever. In order to fully appreciate 9.75 and what it means exactly, I should talk about an old habit.

When I was in college, I used to quantify a girl's genetic gift by a number ranging from 5 - 10 with 0.5 increments (5.5, 6.0, 6.5,... etc). I know it is utterly immature, borderline pathetic, and plain stupid but one cannot deny it brilliance in its simplicity to denote how hot/gorgeous/beautiful/cute a girl is. I know most guys in one point of their life did something like this. I have no excuse for my lack of respect but I cannot deny the fact that I was in college, experiencing overflowing hormones, in a university full of genetically gifted people. And with the apparent sense of freedom, who would not do it?

However I am govern by three simple rules. These are my personal rules on judging beauty by its skin:

• The score is affected only by its physical appearance.
Thick make-ups, sense of humor or the size of a wallet must NEVER be considered.


• The girl must either be a stranger or someone I do not know personally.
  
This is to maintain the highest standard of objectivity. Knowing a person, establishing a connection or forming a relationship, would result in a bias score.


• I must see the girl in person.
For obvious reason, I am suppose to quantify natural physical beauty and not how good someone is at Photoshop.

• The total "stare time" should be at least 5 seconds.
This time is essential to study the face, how big the eyes, how small the lips, shape of the face, size of the cheek bone, etc.

To this day, I have given just 17 9.5's. These are the girls that I can dig up from my memory.

• A classmate in high school.
• We were both freshmen, same college (Engineering) different degree. I just saw her from afar.
• My classmate in philosophy. She always sits 2 rows in front of me.
  
• A girl I saw at a computer cafe with her boyfriend.
• My classmate in Filipino.
  
• College, same year but different degree. She's an ECE student, tall and fair.
  
• Two girls walking at The Atrium, a mall at Singapore. I refer to them as "Blue" and "Circle" because the one was wearing a blue dress and the other one was wearing a dress with big circle print.
• A girl at sitting on an MRT train at Singapore. Probably an Art student because she alighted on a station that is near an Art College.
  

Why not give a perfect 10? Well, because I'm reserving that to my future wife. It would be awesome to tell my future wife, "Hey hon, I've seen hundreds and thousands of girls and yet you're the only 10.0 in my life". High five future me!

So going back, the million dollar question, who are you 9.75? (In order for me not to forget her, I would write my thoughts in an uninterrupted, unfiltered, and most probably full of grammatically errors.). It is Wednesday, June 24, 2009, around 1815-1845. She was sitting beside me at a shuttle at Makati, the one below the parking garage. She took the Bicutan shuttle. I can sense that she was tall, feel her super straight, needle-like waist-length, dyed brown hair. The shuttle seat was like that of a jeepney, I was sitting at the right side, the side on the driver and she was sitting at my right. Therefore, I cannot look at her without experiencing a certain degree of awkwardness. I tried to be cool by not looking. She had 2 bulky bags yet small enough to place on her lap. We were stuck at traffic even at Skyway. During that traffic jam, she was occasionally texting. I got a glimpse of her cellphone, enough to deduce that the couple on the phone's wallpaper was she and her boyfriend but not enought to get a good look at her face. During the almost 1 hour drive/traffic jam, she this sort of popping noise with her mouth. The kind where one bites his or her lips and suddenly pulling them out. She also played a song from her phone. I don't know the song. But I can remember it was a recent song sang by a guy with the word obsession on it. We were nearing SM Bicutan, my stop, I now have a reason to face towards her direction. Then I saw her face, a face like an angel or a supermodel. From what I can see, she was wearing a pair of runners, a pants that looks like a jogging pants and a simple solid colored shirt. When we alighted, I had a better look at her back. It was indeed some sort of jogging pants, the her shirt is not something a normal Makati employee wears. Adding the fact that one of the big bags she was carrying probably carries her change of clothes, there is a big possibility she just went to a gym. She pulled out her umbrella because it was drizzling. From there, there are two ways she could go, through the back entrance of the mall or towards the tricycles. So I thought to myself, regardless of where she was going, I'm gonna follow her. This will be the first time that I will do this. I have never altered my course because of a stranger. I am guilty of varying my walking speed because of a beautiful girl but never my course. Then fate played a trick on me. She did not enter the mall nor walked towards the tricycle. She headed for the parking lot on the back of the mall which is beside the back entrance. I was not prepared for this. So I just let it go, but changed my mind once inside the mall. I figured with the direction she is going, if I went and waited for 5 minutes at the other mall entrance, she might show up and then I can finally have a good look at her face. But no 9.75. From there I can deduce 2 possibilities. One, she parked her car at SM and she went home, two, she rode a jeep either going north (Sun Valley, Merville?) or sourth (Marcelo?). *Train of thought finish*

Just yesterday I was re-watching How I Met Your Mother and I remembered Ted's cheesy line, "...the beauty of a moment is that it's fleeting. By its very nature, it slips through our fingers making it that much more precious."(S1 Ep. Zip, zip, zip). Now she will remain a mystery, a perfect moment sealed by a blog post in Cyber land.

This post is a note-to-self sort of post. It's a way to immortalize a momentous occasion in my life, or at the very least, a suppose to be unforgettable moment. By putting it here, someday, somewhere by invoking the accumulation of good karma, I would see this girl again.

A very very...very long word?

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a certain lung disease...

Floccinaucinihilipilification is the act of describing something worthless...

Antidisestablishmentarianism is some sort of political position...

...and Titin is just a big practical joke by the scientific community.

Although I could put its chemical name here, it would be moronic move for my part. For starters, having 189,819 characters, its not exactly a readable post. I tried "copy-pasting" it to MS word and the name occupied 79 pages. That length is comparable to an engineering thesis documentation I copied from a friend.

I can only imagine what happened at the lab that day.

It was a triumphant day for a group of scientist from University of Hoocares who, after years of intensive research, has finally identified the largest known protein yet. Wearing his worn down lab gown and dusty glasses, Dr. X, the research head, said that "...the identification of the protein Titin can help scientific and medical research of muscle dystrophy." The protein, popularly called Titin, is somehow related to muscles. However whats more interesting is its chemical name. When asked about the protein's chemical name, Dr. X simply replied, "The original name is suppose to be Methionylthreony but in my personal opinion, the simplicity of the name does not represent the gravity of the discovery. Then I said to myself, it would be really really cool to have a very very long chemical name. So, with the help of my 3 year old daughter, we sat in front of a computer until supper and totally reinvented the name. It was an awesome experience"

Indeed, they added just a few characters. And the finish product, a freaking 189,819 letter chemical name.

Now, I know they would not name something that long without a good reason and I bet its a pretty good one too. But just imagine how long before they were able to type that.

Oh and what about proof reading. Surely it was a more evil bitch.

By the way, Titin's chemical name can be found here.

The Day I Got My Driver's License

Today, I finally got my Philippine driver's license. It took me exactly 9 hrs and 7 minutes of waiting in queues, daydreaming on Neverland and actualyl sleeping on squeaky benches. Heres what happened:

5:00 AM: Arrived at LTO Office. The morning was dark, the gates closed, the building quiet and deserted.

5:26 AM: The second applicant arrived. Now the place is a little less creepy.

5:34 AM: Our Help arrived. She asked me to follow her and fill out two identical forms. This used to simultaneously queue me to both medical check-up and drug testing.

The Help helped us at the actual processing. What I did was paying the Help a little extra to speed up the processing of my papers. It is tantamount to an express processing of papers; you pay a little more to get want you want faster (oh, and one less step). Lets just say its an unofficial and unspecified type of LTO service.

Before continuing, it is necessary to tell you that technically the first step in getting a Philippine Driver's License is being given the application form. However, in actuality, in order to get one, the applicant needs a completed medical check-up as well as a drug test. I'd like to point out I have neither. Moving on...

6:04 AM: Exactly 8 applicants on queue to get their application form. The sun is up at last.

6:17 AM: 20 applicants.

Now I'm indicating the number of applicants because for the written part of the exam, they will only take 30 for each batch, and on a normal day, the first batch usually get their license before lunch.

6:34 AM: Medical check-up. For Php 100.00, the doctor took my height and weight and asked me to read a series of letters approx. 1 cm big about 5 feet away. Reading the letters; totally nailed it!

7:XX AM: (I didn't got the exact time :P) The queue for receiving the application form started to move and I still haven't finish drug testing. So me being the first applicant was all for naught.

8:14 AM: Finally finished my drug test. For Php 300.00, I filled up a form, peed on a cup, digitally took my fingerprints and sign. Being sleepy and all, I kinda missed on the cup a few times. Not a big splash, more of a sprinkle on my fingers. The thing is, the sink is outside the rest room so all people who did their drug test there most probably have turn the door knob using their urine enriched hands.

8:21 AM: Finally got my application form.

Now, the next step is another queue. This time a guard will give you a number. This will be for the written exam. Lucky for me, because of the Help, I was automatically give a number...14.

Now I don't know if I'm just unlucky but LTO's network was offline. Therefore, all processing was stopped we had to wait, indefinitely, until the internet connection is fixed. Damn PLDT!

9:22 AM: Finally online! The pain continues...

9:22 - 10:XX AM: A series of step. On Window 1 (I forgot what is this for) I gave my application form, on Window 3(Photosig), they took my picture and digital signature, and on Window 11(Cashier), paid Php 167.63. I don't know what was that for but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the written test.

10:2X AM: LTO Lecture. Now there wasn't any lecture. The person simply gave us reviewers and specifically told us to review traffic signs. But if you look around, road signs literally glued on the wall.

10:4X AM: Started the test. The exam is a multiple choice, 40 item test. The first 30 are about road knowledge while the last 10 are about traffic signs. Everything is in Tagalog. The questions are easy. Even if I didn't study I would have passed the test. Each item has 3 choices and an average person get eliminate at least on wrong choice. For instance, if you were asked "How should you look at your side mirrors", the choice "Whenever I want" is clearly wrong. However when I took mine, the questionnaire, although newly printed has some weird, light, pencil checks on one of the choice for each number. What do you think was that for? *wink*.

10:5X AM: Finished the test.

Now there is supposed to be another step here, the practical driving test but because of the Help, I skipped it. Hooray for the Help. Now just to be fair, I know how to drive an automatic car, but their test vehicles are manual.

11:06 AM: Waiting in front of Window 11 (Cashier) to pay for my license.

11:41 AM: Still no name call. Worrying that I might have to wait through their lunch break.

11:59 AM: Lunch break. Crap! Crap!! Crap!!!

12:47 PM: They resumed their work. Now I was amazed that they didn't milked their 1hr lunch break.

Around 1:XX, my application is now on Window 11 (Cashier). Since the payment the Help received includes the actual license fee, they didn't even call my name. They processed my papers first and finally...

2:07 PM: My name was called on Window 12 (Releasing). And I got my shiny license.

TV Hiatuses

Its been weeks now since the last time I had a satisfying TV night. Technically, it is more appropriate to call it a Series Night since I'm not watching it on a television but thats not important. So, my Series Night would include dinner in front of new episodes of at least 2 shows. In some days (Monday US time, yehey) the series that I watched can reach up to 12. As far as my memory goes, the following shows, at some point aired on a Monday:

• Heroes
• Prison Break
• 24
  
• One Tree Hill
• How I Met Your Mother
  
• Stargate Atlantis
• Greek
• How I Met your Mother
• Gossip Girl
• Chuck
• Kyle XY
• Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles

Those are the glory days. Of course shows like Kyle XY, Stargate Atlantis and Prison Break have met their abrupt, in-a-way and planned ending respectively but most of these shows are still breathing. I remember getting excited to wake up on a Philippine Tuesday mid morning aka US primetime, set up my "stuff", go to school and come back to a 12x40++ mins of pure bliss.

But, like all things oil-consuming, it will need refueling, or in this case a hiatus. It does seem reasonable for good shows to take a breather, recharge and come back with a totally different kick. But it would be nice for good shows to be replaced by a show of equal or at most a level below the aforementioned. Ah, if only the perfect world exists...

Now, all I can do is wait. Having the patience to sit through hours of reruns and bad television until the infamous hiatus is over and that momentous occasion where all shows would eventually sprout, gradually filling my empty void and satisfying the dire need for a (TV) high...and yes I'm currently watching Weed.

PS: Weed is not that bad. Although the opening song is terrible and annoying.

Earth 2100

"What is precious? This earth of ours, this garden we must tend, these people we love."

-Lucy

I recently watched a documentary entitled Earth 2100 broadcasted on ABC. The show tackles the many possible challenges the world will face if people do nothing to counter climate change.

It follows the life of Lucy, a fictional character who lived through the worst outcome what the world will become. She lived through what experts in different fields of science and engineering say about a possible doomsday future for the world.


The documentary approaches the issue of climate change in a different way. By addressing the "What will" rather than the "What is", it inspires more people especially reactive people (those that wait for something terrible to happen before acting) just like me. It combines the elements of story telling, vivid images and graphics, with informative interviews from scientists and world expert.

I have seen several documentary, read a couple of articles and even sit through hours of talk about the earth and its future. Some entertaining, some just seems like repetitions, while other just focuses on educating. This tv special is one of a kind. Aside from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, this documentary, Earth 2100, not only informs and entertains, but above all inspires.


PS: During the last few minutes of Al Gore's An Incovenient Truth, I got bored and ultimately stopped watching. I had to re-watch the entire thing. With Earth 2100, there are no dull moments.