roadkill?
BLED AT 02:09 AM

dehydration

nights ago, i was walking to my car after a days work. nothing really special happened that day. nothing particular

so as any day, i boarded my car parked at a side street near are office. there were still a few cars parked there. the place never felt dangerous for me, only looked quite shabby.

when i turned on the ignition, the car immediately died after a second. a bit alarmed, i started it again and it did.

but when i started to drive out of the parking spot, it made strange noised from the engine. i stopped and checked the engine.

at first, i thought that someone stole or cut something in the engine. i heard a similar event in an auto-repair shop days ago.

and i smelled something. this time, i thought something was burning, which was alarming. but as i looked around the engine more, i saw what seemed like blood. and then at the hood, there were guts splattered.

i realized that the smell wasn't of something burning, but rather an odor quite foul which i really can't describe. like blood mixed with rotten meat.

and an incident popped into my mind. the same thing happened to my dad's suv. when he got a mechanic to look into an engine, they found shredded remains of a cat.

so in the morning, when i asked a mechanic to clean the remains of a cat, we were caught by surprise. it wasn't a feline, but rather a huge fucking black rat. that's why it smelled funky.

thing is, the engine was clean, but the smell of rat guts was still there on the car. it smelled like death for a few days

lesson learned: whenever you park your car other than your garage, tap the hood before starting the engine.

the proverbial christmas wishlist of 2007
BLED AT 01:46 AM

dehydration

1. xbox 360 - i didn't know that there were pirated games for xbox 360 until yesterday. and when i checked the price tag for a console, it was relatively cheaper than the ps3. then i checked the titles on the xbox and they weren't bad either. it carried nba live games, halo, call of duty, resident evil, and the most anticipated game of the year: assassin's creed.

so i'm set, i'm gonna buy an xbox 360 as a gift for myself this christmas

2. dc sports headers for my honda civic sir 2000 - this was initially what i thought i'd buy myself. but come to think of it, racing headers aren't really a necessity (self contradiction: and a gaming console is??)

but, if i had some extra cash or someone out there is very generous, i won't mind. hahaha

3. a jacket from billabong or von dutch - it's an investment where i work. i'm running out of jackets to wear.

4. minority report: 18 classic stories from philip dick - i'm a sucker for short stories. and i love the depth and irony that dick writes.

5. watchmen graphic novel - since reading v for vendetta and batman: the killing joke, i've been an alan moore fan.

6. sparco harnesses (preferably black or red) - again back to the car, but this time, more cheaper. i've been using sparco bucket seats for months now and the normal seatbelt isn't that comfortable.

7. a pioneer head unit stereo for my car with an auxiliary port - just because i want my ipod plugged instead of burning cds every week.

*trivia - did you know that you have to own a permit to own a burner in our country according to the optical media board? yeah, i can't believe it either. probably the most stupid law (if there's any) in the country that would blindside a lot of pc users.

8. an airline ticket to p^*^&*($%%$^. hahaha i'm messed up


bloc party - i still remember

driving in the midst of a curfew and the chaos that preceded it
BLED AT 01:31 AM

dehydration

i bet that when you first heard about the curfew, something inside you felt suppressed. lik"what? i can't go out until 12am? are you fucking insane?"

our reaction wasn't a surprise really. in our generation, we have even neither experienced a curfew nor know the concept of it, aside from what our folks order us. remember, this was the first curfew since the marcos era, even before we were born

the curfew actually posed a bit of a problem to me. my shift ends at around 12 midnight, way inside the curfew time. and even though we were included in the exemptions, i still felt uneasy being stopped at a checkpoint. not when we know how crooked some cops are.

but then again, what the hell. i drove home. and you know what? the curfew was overrated.

in my usual route of edsa-kamias-xavierville-katipunan-marcos highway, i didn't even encounter any checkpoint. i was expecting one that's near our village, but it only stopped motorcycles.

manila during curfew hours were a sight to behold. the roads were clear, with just a few taxis, delivery trucks, and a lot of dogs conquering the streets. metro manila roads were like a driver's dreamscape, with the streets trying to tempt you to push your car to the limit.

but instead of revving my car up like i always do at night, i actually just took my time, trying to enjoy the temporary calm of the usually busy streets and the cold breeze that december brought. it was amazing that at the back of my mind, i wished that there were more of these curfews. maybe schedule it once a week like wash days. but we all know authorities here when given an added boost to their arsenal would abuse it. so nevermind.



did you ever wonder how trillanes and co though about their plan last thursday? i bet it went something like this:

trillanes: lalala... ang boring naman ng hearing na to. gumawa kaya ako ng gulo. ano kayang motto? oust gma ulit
lim: tama! ganito, magmartsa tayo papunta sa makati. may alam akong magandang hotel ulit.
trillanes: sige. tara. tutal may 11 milyong botante naman ang tatanga-tangang bumoto sakin. susunod yung mga yun sa paglalakad natin.

later...
trillanes: (puta. ang layo na ng nilalakad ko. wala pa rin sumasama. sisisgaw na nga lang ako) sama na kayo!!!
pedestrian: sige!! ikaw!!


and wasn't it remotely funny that the military and the police decided to ram an apc into the lobby of a 5-star hotel? i really thought that they would use the practiced techniques they were boasting of. more in the lines of a relatively small unit that would serve as the strike team who would cut the lights, throw some flashbangs ala counterstrike.

instead they decided: "screw that, let's go with the big guns"

that's our government's flaw right there.