Really, welcome back to TV, Sarah Michelle Gellar.

I think it was just a year or two ago when I was heaping praises on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even declared it one of my most favorite shows of all time, almost on par with The X-Files. But I watch too much of these TV shows and one day, for sure, something will add up to my list or even replace my current “ultimate” favorites.

Ringer, to me, is intriguing at best. I was in awe of SMG in Buffy, that it actually pained me to realize that of her film credits, she is most known for starring in a couple of horror movies and a teenage sort-of thriller. OK, let’s add Scooby Doo, but still I think it’s a pity she didn’t get a real break in the big leagues. If it just happened that she embodied the perpetually sad and “I-carry-the-weight-of-the-world” heroine perfectly that she couldn’t move on to do different things in her line of world, I don’t really know. But I’ll look into this new series just because she’s Buffy. Was. Who knows, maybe this one will turn out to be the new incredible show that TV’s cult followers will rally behind next. At this point, it’s doubtful, but bring it on! Can’t wait for September.

So since Wimbledon has ended a few weeks ago, I haven’t had any sports event to watch on TV. I guess I’ll take a peek if they’ll show the Azkals’ game against Kuwait this week. With the Azkals mania gripping the country these days, you’d think Filipinos have been playing – what is that, football? – and giving each other football gifts for as long as we’ve been crazy about, say, boxing and basketball. But it’s a good thing, I guess. Whatever unites the nation is a good thing in my book, even if I suspect much of the screaming fans out there are more concerned about the personal profiles of their heartthrobs than about the sport itself.

If past lives are even real and not just a product of mankind’s crazy imagination, I would be tempted to think that Andre Agassi was a writer in his previous incarnations. His father even claimed that Andre’s eight-grade education doesn’t stop him from speaking better than persons with PhDs. And I’m not sure I’ll disagree with that. He has such eloquence, albeit more emotionally rooted than anywhere else, which makes the words coming out of his mouth seem to pack more meaning and sincerity. For someone who was known as a punk, and his own imperfections he detailed with candor in his recently published autobiography Open, Andre has completely reinvented himself in a way not many people can and have the will to do. If only anyone can just use dickies scrubs to clean up his or her act.

This weekend, Andre Agassi was rightfully inducted to the International Tennis Federation’s Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of other past greats of the sport, which includes his wife Steffi Graf.

Andre’s love letter to Steffi, who now prefers to be called by her real given name, Stefanie:

Source:

http://www.agassifoundation.org/andre-s-personal-tributes-2/

My friend asked me, “So, do you find the iPad useful”? I gave an immediate answer of No, to which on second thought I have a lot of “buts” to add. No, you don’t need one for work, if we have the same kind of job; no, you don’t need it to get through any of your daily tasks. If you already have a laptop, even not touch screen laptops, then no it doesn’t really add much to the functions you most use. But, it’s a lot of fun.

I use it as an e-book reader, although I’ll be first to say that I don’t have much time to read books these days. I use it for web searches and checking e-mails and instant messages when I’m outside of home, but if you’re using a smartphone then there’s your alternative. I play games on it, and download apps like the ones I use most frequently- an expense tracker that generates records of all your cash inflow and outflow, and several time management applications which couldn’t do anything about the fact that sometimes 24 hours is just not enough for the things I need to accomplish. Maybe the best use I have for my iPad right now is for watching movies and TV series while I’m waiting for sleep. It’s just less weighty to bring to bed than my laptop. So, it’s very useful, but not something everyone should do without.

So my sister is leaving for Edmonton, Alberta (Canada), this July to finally live there with her husband and his family. As a welcome gift, my brother-in-law bought her tickets to Wicked, the musical—my favorite musical—which will show there on the first week of August. Because I was the one who introduced my sister to this musical, and all the others for that matter, I jokingly told her that I shouldn’t have had because now I’m insanely jealous that she’ll get to see it in person. All I have is a YouTube bootleg video that looks like it was captured by someone using ncstar binoculars. Well, she has to send me memorabilia now. That won’t quench my envy, but I’m happy to have the chance to hear from someone I know how the experience actually feels.

Here’s one of my favorite songs from the soundtrack:

I doubt if my father still remembers that when I was becoming a sort of rebellious (by the standards of a deeply religious and conservative family) would-be teenager, he told me that when I turn 18, I can do whatever I please. But that is something that stayed with me for a long time, and I never forgot that. I eagerly looked forward to the day I turned 18. Sure I did, and years after that, I now do have complete freedom to decide for myself but not before I had to go through a phase when I had so much bottled-up frustration that I couldn’t look at life beyond the eyes of a sheltered kid who feels she had been denied the chance to normally blossom into society. Of course, for a while now, I’ve been able to fully admit that a lot of other people had it worse than me. It’s not like I was raised in mobile homes by abusive parents, or worse. I was, and am, loved despite the imperfections of that love.

Maybe I did spend a whole lot of time thinking about the things I didn’t like about my upbringing and that I subconsciously tried to become someone who is, at least inside, different from what those years should have made me. Both my parents are used to being in extended families where grandparents, parents, and their spouses and children all live together, at least in one town if not in one house, and share everything together. Although the changing of the times have made them more accepting of their own children creating seemingly independent lives, I know they wish it was different. And now being an adult, I realized you don’t turn around and tell them, “You used to tell me I can’t have things my way; now you know how that feels.” I understand now. And despite feeling wise enough I know I’m not doing everything right, but that’s life. It’s about compromise, and trying to make things work without causing too much damage to those you care about. That (I think) I turned out to be a fairly decent human being somehow made everything else in my life history just things that factor in, with none of them too bad or too outrageous to ruin how I look ahead to my future.

Do you adjust your Facebook settings, especially those concerning privacy? By the standards of most profiles I see, I actually have a pretty small number of connections. I’m not sure, though, how I feel about not actually knowing (or remembering) a lot of them. I made a decision to “add as friend” people I have mutual connections with, which I guess made me “visible” despite me choosing to be “unsearchable” in the site. I don’t really put out too much personal stuff anyway, except for the occasional pictures; I would think people who knew me during my elementary and high school days wouldn’t even recognize me without taking OxyElite Pro, as I’ve put on a lot of weight compared with before. I just find it jarring when somebody pops me a message asking if I remember them. If I don’t, what do I say? I know it sounds kind of haughty—it’s not that I was a popular girl at school; everybody knows everybody then, I guess with me as an exception. So after a rather rattling experience of having to answer to two such questions from two former schoolmates at the same time, I made sure my Chat is always on the “off” mode and that my wall and photos are not visible to every connection. More than haughtiness, it’s the antisocial in me at work.

I was finding it extremely difficult to sleep last night; I think my eyes and finally gave in by 3 am. That I woke up at 7 am today is a nice surprise for me, although it was actually a bit irritating at first because I didn’t wake up on my own accord but because my sister was moving around me too much while preparing for her work. It’s a good thing I feel I had enough rest; I must’ve had a good sleep regardless. Anyway, so it’s the start of another week. I wish I can start this day by taking a pre workout supplement and getting a bit of cardio at the gym, but now that I’m in front of my laptop, I’ll have to force myself to prepare my stuff with all the work stuff that’s waiting for me today at the back of my mind. I never learn, tsk, tsk.

There’s this currently airing Philippine TV show (soap opera) about a family torn by their affiliations — military and leftist. I’ve watched most episodes from the time it started airing, and thus far it’s the only one among the throngs of local primetime offerings that I watch with real interest. True, it’s because I think the lead actor is very good (looking, hehe). He’s convincing as the twin brothers who were separated at birth and brought up by different families (who are more blood related than anyone can guess, what do you know!).

[OTT: In Fringe, they show that in the future, FBI agents, and I assume military officers, are identified using a barcode scanner; If we have that now, the shenanigans of the people in this soap will never see the light of day.]

Back to the story: The storyline moves along in an ok pace, at least you’ll be shocked if you’re used to 5- to 10-year running soaps of the old days. The main and supporting cast comprises veteran and good up-and-coming actors, so all’s well in that aspect. But then, I feel that the complexity of the narrative is still just skin deep. At the heart of it, it’s just a love story—of 4 couples, each with their respective ‘triangle’. That the half of each of these couples is a leftist while the other one is with the government is something I’m wondering why the writers thought necessary. I guess nothing is ‘too much’ about soap operas. Of course, the circumstances need to be ridiculous to achieve high drama. But when you tackle ideologies but use them only to create tension among lovers, and then conveniently throw away any lingering ‘what-is-right-what-is-wrong’ questions the story poses because the only real driving force behind the characters is love (and jealousy) and everything else will be set right once the fated are together (to hell with their professed beliefs), it makes one (ok, me) question why choose this setting at all? Well, I guess viewership is all that matters, as in everywhere else when it comes to TV. I can imagine that, ultimately, that a multitude of people watch is more important than good characterization and a solid storyline (besides, in these respects, the show is already ahead than its contemporaries).

First, I’m not really ambitious; not even adequately so. Second, I’m talking about literal dreams: those you get when you’re sleeping. Third, I don’t actually think this will make me rich.

Do you believe that people write books, make movies, or even do something entirely drastic with their lives because of something that felt so tangible and real while they are dreaming?

I do get vivid dreams once in a while, more often when I was younger (I don’t know if it means anything, psyche wise). Last night, I’ve had a couple of really interesting ones. I only remember one “scene” in my first dream — I was at home, but in a house that looks different from ours, when all of a sudden our entire living room turned “sepia-like,” and all of our things—TV, sofas, fans—transformed into their old (think 1960s as you see in movies) versions. Cool, huh? I remember feeling amused in my dream, thinking it must’ve been a remote control that did the trick. Weird? Wait for the next one.

Now, I’m not the least bit entrepreneurial. I do sell stuff on Ebay sometimes, but only to get rid of things I no longer want/need. Even when I was actively looking for a job after graduating from college, I rarely looked at management jobs because I feel a sales position is not something I can be good at. But here’s what’s funny: my other dream last night seems to be telling me that I need to go into the notebook business. Say what? Well, look at what I scribbled, with my eyes half opened because I believe I was still half asleep then, on the writing application (Penultimate) on my iPad. I felt that I had to take it down lest I forget it when I’m fully awake:

That, I believe, is a proposal for a kind of notebook with onion-skin ruled pages (in the mid-yellow range) that can be turned using, and weighted by, magnets (don’t ask me how! i have no idea!). It comes with a very, very small version where you can write your daily to-dos. But, wait, that’s not all. I also dreamt of a name (!!!) AND slogan (is that what it’s called?) for the product, which I think don’t make any sense:

I really have no explanation for why these things are in my head. I do collect notebooks for no other reason besides that I kid myself into thinking that someday I’ll fill them with grand words of whatever, but I never even thought about marketing them (or going against Moleskine). I just thought this is too funny/amusing/peculiar not to share, at the risk of you people doubting my current mental state.