Bummer.

I could be facing the most boring month ever. Everything, as in everything, just had their season finales. Grey's Anatomy ended last week. So did Heroes. And of course, the Premiership, soon the Championship and other lower Leagues. Bundesliga is also over. Serie A is about to end this week, so is La Liga. What the heck is there left for me to watch? Even listen to? The Gavin Peacock Show just had its last episode yeterday and I'm not sure if 606 would still have the Football Phone-in Show. Erm, I don't think so.

Grey's Anatomy Season 4 starts Fall of 2007, which would be around mid-September. And Heroes is scheduled to come back September 24. I suppose other shows I watched before like Veronica Mars are on season break, too. Perhaps I can only count on football. Team's pre-season starts in July (Chelsea in California!!!), so that will be a month and half of wait for me. But there are also international friendlies soon. Next Friday is England's friendly against Brazil and on June 6, it's Euro 2008 Qualifier as England play Estonia (they better win this or they could face their exit).

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3 am rantings.

So here are two things that tick me:

One people who talk like this:
thx sa lyter! wahehe.. eyOn..nu b mssbi q?.. adek ata 2 sa DOTA dumayo p ng caloocan eh pra ln mag laroo.. awee.. olweys redi sa lyter.. tpos lam nio pg nkta nio 2 prng d nadilat.. awee..

THE PERFECT DISPLAY OF EXCESSIVE EFFORTS TO BE CUTE AND COOL. Plus, A MANIFESTATION OF LAZINESS AND STUPIDITY.

Point #1: People speak (and text) that way because they think it's cute and lovely and sweet. Fuckin' hell no. It sounds stupid, it sounds irritating, and it sounds pathetic.

Point #2: How difficult can it be to type the whole word, instead of taking away every single AEIOU (yes, I know they're called vowels) from the word?!?! If one's too fuckin' lazy to type the whole thing, then JUST CALL THE PERSON! He is merely promoting stupidity. And he himself is stupid!

Point #3: They sound so pathetic and disgusting and stupid, I hope they get obliterated from the face of the earth. Okay, that's harsh. Feel free to suggest something less harsh.


And two, people who try making fashion statements by wearing football kit (or any other sport for that matter) when they're not even fans!

Point #1: Kits are there for fans to display their support for a team and the sport itself. Kits are made for FANS. NOT POSERS.

Point #2: Kits are made for some specific purpose. Not only to be worn, but to be worn by PLAYERS OR SUPPORTERS. Those kits mean something. They are not merely fashionable items. They stand for something deeper than mere social image.

Point #3: KITS ARE MADE FOR FANS. NOT FOR NON-FANS. NOT FOR TRYING-HARD INDIVIDUALS TRYING TO BE DIFFERENT (then be naked if they wanna be different!). NOT FOR POSERS. NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR.

.5

Okay, so I thought I was done being grade-conscious, or at least I thought I won't be for the DC program. (It's the parties that matter) But I still am. I'm bugged by one of the grades I got, I want it to be .5 higher. Just that. But I didn't get it. It's been bothering me the past... 3 hours.

Crap.

Politics, Football and the Expensive Life.

So this is my first post since I got home. I only have some random things to say.

Of course, this has to start with football. I've realized, I don't know if it was just recently or some time ago (and the idea just got buried under the piles of information from overstudying in DC), that I want a job with a UK football team- whether it is with the management or... well, where else could I be given my degree. I couldn't possibly be a therapist, a manager, let alone a player. But given that I'm pursuing Public Policy, I don't know how it's ever gonna happen. But seriously, I want nothing else in this world but THAT. Finally, I know what I REALLY want. No hesitations whatsoever. I know I've been a fan for only 11 months. But the hell do I care?

I was talking to a friend about grad school. Well at first about leaving then we got to talking about it and how it would cost so much. She's going to Australia next month (yay for her leaving!) to do her MSc (or is it MA?). Anyway, damn these countries. No wonder they become so wealthy. Education costs so much especially in the US!!! She's spending close to 400 Aussie dollars per unit and she's having 60. Converting it... I actually would rather not. It just costs a lot, plain and simple. Let's leave it at that. I told her how much mine would cost and... she's surprised by it, too. That made me realize, any other higher education I will get in the future, I will do it elsewhere. That is, for my MBA, I want London Business School. At least that's top priority. More of a dream actually. Then if not, I can go to Spain, France, or... somewhere in UK again. Ahh, there goes my dream of seeing the world again. Still alive. Very much so. Point is, my MA in the CA shall be my last in the US.

I just finished reading Soccer in Sun and Shadow. Loved it. It is one book I am quite sure I will read again. FYI, I don't read books for the second time. I don't think I've ever done that because I think it's a waste of time, especially in my case where I have a lot waiting to be read. Anyway, it is simply an excellent football book containing history of football especially in Latin American countries. Eduardo Galeano, the author, is from Uruguay. Now I started on one of the books I got from CPAC, Conservative Political Action Conference. I'm lovin it. It's called Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today's Democratic Party. I came to DC without siding with a particular party. Actuall I sorta did, answering 'liberal democrat' to one of the questions asked by TFAS for the applicant profile. But having spent time in DC made me realize, I answered wrong. And reading about the Democrats' screw ups makes me happy. :D (For one, I worked for a GOP representative. Two, I am a conversative. So yeah, what the hell was I thinking saying I was a liberal democrat? Yuck.)

I thought removing the indelible ink on my index finger was gonna be a biatch. But it wasn't. I only had to use alcohol and it was gone. Somebody else could have voted twice today. The last time I checked, 10 out of the 12 I voted for senator are in the unofficial 12. Awesome. And no, I didn't vote, never will do vote, for an actor/actress for Senate. Gosh, I hope these people make use of their time where they're best at spending it, acting. What the hell do they know about governance anyway? Sheesh, please stay at your field!!! What the hell are you thinking running for office?!?! Idiots!!! So unless you're some smart ass,, highly educated, from either UP, AdMu, or even DLSU (feel free to name other schools and I'll approve), don't even bother! OKAY?!?!!? Thank God not a single one of them is in the 12 so far. Thank YOU.

I am appearing for the visa interview on Friday and... I don't think I'm preparing for it as much as I did when I applied the first time. Sheesh, I hope this doesn't mean anything, especially the receipt I have of the SEVIS fee payment... is shitty. Long story. I should be able to fix it by tomorrow night. Actually I feel like I already have more than half of what I need. I MUST GET THIS VISA or I miss seeing Chelsea. Oh my, Chelsea, I will see you in July. Oh my, I am gonna pass out. Oh... oh...

Know A District- VA11

This is seriously one of the funniest Colbert segments I've seen. Or maybe it's just because I always saw TMD with a serious face and seeing Colbert act his usual self is just amazing.

How do we say goodbye?

If there was something I feared the most coming to Washington, DC, it wasn't that I won't make any friends or that I would be spending so much I'd exhaust all the money I had a month earlier than i was supposed to, or that I won't do well in my exams. Rather it was that it would be so hard saying goodbye to people. It couldn't get any truer.

I admitted to so many people a couple of days before I left that saying goodbye was my weakest spot. I even repeated it twice or thrice to a couple of them. I wasn't ashamed of admitting it, I thought it was normal. But I was ashamed of how much I wept on our last night. I could only thank the party on the roof and at Hawk 'N' Dove for distracting me for a moment from the sadness that had been clouding over me the whole... night. Even during the graduation and the packing, all I had in mind was, I was gonna say goodbye soon and that was it. Part of me was telling it would be difficult, but also part of me made me believe it was gonna be easy. It sucked that it had to be the former.

I came to DC with no expectations of being attached to people so much I would be affected so badly by the goodbyes. I knew at first leaving was gonna be difficult, after all that's what I feared most. But I didn't know it was gonna be THAT hard. I am not the most sociable person, that's what I've been telling people. So I didn't expect all of this. (It actually took me some time to be close and attached to the people I considered my really good friends towards the end of the program, especially that 7 of them was already a group when I started hanging out with them.) Add to that the fact that I am a very judgmental, picky person. I don't just make friends with people, let alone talk to them about anything. I can assure you that if you put me with at least 5 people from the program, we will have a conversation which will not last for 2 minutes. It's a matter of being comfortable. I'm glad to have been comfortable with these people.

The first time tears ran down my face, if I remember it right, was at Hawk 'N' Dove. (Everyone was just too crazy back in the apartment, crying wasn't even an option. (Now I sound weird saying the word crying.)) Anna started it, although it lasted only for a while, which was just right or I would've made a complete fool of myself in front of all those people. Then came the dancing and the drinking and the picture taking. I had enough to put on the videos. Then back to the apartment to hang out for the last time. It was at that point when I completely lost it. One of the girls saw me... It was crazy. As if it wasn't enough, another one saw me back in the apartment. I just didn't want to leave.

I just realized that the fear came from leaving behind familiarity. I am the type of person who, once attached, becomes reliant. I rely on the people to go out and have dinner with, visit at night and bug, walk around and just sing without minding people hearing it, and just hanging out. From this experience, I am sad that I had to leave the whole place behind and along with that, the people. The idea of going separate ways is exciting. I can only wait to see the bright future these people all have. But along with that is the idea of losing touch, of not seeing these people ever again. It is just scary. Indeed, we all have to move on and see what lies ahead. All I could do is try to keep in touch and... miss them. And it sucks that way.

I will miss the times when I'd just show up in the girls' apartment, anytime, to have some of the food they cooked or to just scare them by moving around their things. I will miss the times when I'd just drop by and hang out with the guys from downstairs until 3-4 in the morning, falling asleep while they're eagerly watching a movie, and just talking about random stuff. I will miss the girls cooking for me. I will miss being advised to start eating veggies and stop eating unhealthy foods. I will miss a friend who just wouldn't stop chugging on diet coke and starbucks coffee every single day, until the last 2 weeks of the program. I will miss traveling to the other apartment to meet up for some late night clubbing somewhere, chinatown or dupont or just in everyone's favorite along Penn Ave. I will miss the parties held in 234 6th St. and beer pong and lebanese chicken and just about everything. I will miss going to Hawk N Dove with them and just dancing like crazy, not minding whether other girls thought of me as crazy (you damn black nigga, mind your own!). I will miss getting drunk and just babbling and going home with some people and hanging out some more. I will miss having late night AIM chats with some of them, from ranting about school work and how exhausted we both are to talking about personal life. I will miss teasing and getting teased. I will miss the good laughs and the little ones. I will miss the drunken nights and pictures taken when I am the only one left sober. I will miss living with them in the same building. I will just miss them, entirely.

Maybe I did not spend enough time with the people from the other building. And it was really unfortunate. Most of the time, it was just Anna, Nikki, Jochen, Javi, Lauren, Matt, Sarah, Jae, Pavol, and Warren. I'm sure if I did, there would've been more memories to keep, considering the number of parties they had. But I didn't. And not that it was lacking nor was I feeling the urge to have spent more time with them. It was not so much the place as it was the people. And how you make extraordinary moments out of ordinary ones.

As Matt said in his blog, keeping in touch through facebook or any other means online isn't as good as actually talking to them in person. Online communication can only provide so much emotions and personality, we can only see half or even less of what the other person is trying to send across. As if that wasn't cruel enough, while time will heal us soon, my number one fear now is that as time heals the pain of leaving behind the places and most especially the people, it will take with it the tight bond we've built. I fear that one day, when we meet again, it would no longer be the same people I've meet 3 months ago. We have to admit, time does that. We go our own ways and be successful our own ways. But a part of us also forgets some part of the cherished past that we become cold towards some things, as if forgetting and being separated come hand in hand with growing up and becoming successful. I hope it doesn't get to a point where all we, I, could say to them is, Hi. If these happen, then the goodbyes given that lonely day of April really meant goodbye. A goodbye to the place, a goodbye to the people, a goodbye to the friendship.

At the end of all this, we could only ask, How do we say goodbye to the people we've come to love?

Simple: We don't.

Something Special for My Something Special

These are the videos I made to immortalize the wonderful experiences I had in Washington DC. The end of the program signifies the end of everyday Starbucks, Hunan Dynasty, and working/studying. It also signifies the end of night visits in either the guys/girls apartment. It also means no more Hawk N Dove at 11pm/12mn and endless drinking. But despite all these, it doesn't mean the end of friendship. Here are the vids:

Part I


Part II


Part III