luxury yacht

Here's another one of my wildest ambitions. It's a yacht! I want a yacht because I want to learn how to navigate it. I love driving. I even wanted to be a pilot when I was young but I know that's not possible because I don't have a 20-20 vision. Yacht cruising sounds like fun especially when you're the one in charge of navigating it. If I'll learn how to navigate a yacht, it's a dream come true!

For my dream to come true, I have to purchase a yacht first. I would name it, Escalera. It's a Spanish word for poker. Escalera sounds nice. It depicts a strongly-built yacht for me. Then, I would have to look for a parking space for my yacht, I already chose one even if I don't have one yet. I plan to park my yacht at the Subic Bay Yacht club where Willie Revillame's yacht and Chavit Singson's yacht are parked. It's a safe place for yachts. It's also not that far from Manila. After that, I have to look for a training school wherein I can learn how to navigate a yacht. I already looked for one and found "Yachting Experience". It's a yacht training school that teaches people how to navigate a yacht. It's based in the US. There you go, everything is pretty much planned. My only dilemma is how to raise money for my dream yacht, Escalera. Sometimes I hate myself for being so ambitious. But hey, it's okay to dream. Walt Disney said, "Don't just dream about it, Do it." I have to do something about my dreams. Right now, I'm only envisioning my dreams but in the future, I'll make sure that I'll do something about it. 

The Electronic Poker Table

There a new product of technology out there in the market for gamblers. It's the electronic poker table. It's like the regular poker table but everything is automated. There are screens for all eight players. The screen displays the cards of each player. In the middle of the poker table there's a big screen for the flop and the other cards and chips. Everything will be automated from the distribution of the cards, opening of the flop, counting of chips etc. Another feature of the electronic poker table is that you can swipe your credit card to buy in. I think in Las Vegas, Nevada they have this device but in the Philippines, I haven't seen one yet.

I love the electronic poker table. I want to experience playing poker where everything is automated. However, there are disadvantages when using this automated machine. In poker, you have to interpret the body language of your opponents, right? In the automated machine, you won't see the how the other plays count their chips or look at their cards. You'll lose the opportunity to detect body language which is crucial to the game of poker. Furthermore, jobs will be lost if we all use electronic poker tables. No manpower will be required to distribute the cards and chips. I'm pretty sure it's more economical for casinos to use automated poker tables but it won't do good to the people whose jobs are to distribute poker chips and cards(I dunno what you call them). But hey, I love this product of technology. It's exciting. It would be fun to have one in your house when you love hosting house parties and sleepovers.

home theater system

I love movies. When I'm stressed or dealing with a lot of problems, I just go and watch a movie and I immediately forget about my worries. It's a Filipino past-time. I'm just not a fan of movie adaptations of novels because I only get disappointed when I see novel-based movies. Movies don't capture what the text in the novel really says. But other than movie adaptations of novels like Twilight and Harry Potter etc., I love movies.

Another one of my wildest dreams is owning a home theater system. I've seen some home theater system's in MTV Cribs. Mariah Carey owns one and so does Snoop Dogg and Lil Bow Wow. I guess home theater systems serve as a form of recreation to busy people like them. Even right now, as a college student I am always busy and stressed. A home theater system can be helpful in reducing stress and for recreation. It's not a necessity but I want it. It's just cool to own one in the comfort of your own home. You can choose what movies to watch and what time to watch them. In the public movie theater, the movies you can watch are selected and can only be screened during pre-determined time schedules. In a public movie theater, you have to deal with noisy people, couples making out and people kicking your seat. It's just annoying. In a home theater system, you're in control. 

private jet is love <3

Owning a private jet is one of my wildest dreams. =) There's nothing wrong with dreaming, right? Of course, owning a private jet in a third world country is out of this world. I don'treally expect that my dream will come true. But I know some politicians who own them and I can even name some of them. I was able to ride a private jet owned by a former politician on the way to my province, Ilocos. The ride was sweeeeeet.

A private jet costs whopping billions. It makes me wonder how this certain former politician was able to afford it when we all know that a politician's salary is just meager. If ever I'll buy a private jet, I'll make sure that the money I will be spending on it is a product of my hard work. I love travelling and it would be nice to own a private jet where you can chill and relax without having to worry about the meager space in an economy class seat. A private jet is also a determinant of status. It screams success. I want to reach a point in my life where I can confidently say that I am successful. Part of success for me is owning a private jet. 

Manansala condo unit at Rockwell

After graduating from college and graduate school, I want my own pad. I want to experience living independently. Wouldn't it be nice to have your own space where you can relax, fend for yourself and decide for yourself on what you want to do inside your home? I want to decide for the color scheme of my condo unit and choose what furniture to put inside.

The Manansala Tower at Rockwell is one of my dream condominiums. You can rent it for 60 thousand a month. It's kind of steep but it's all worth it because of the tight security and commendable services that comes with it. Some of the facilities of the Manansala Tower are the infinity pool, gym, sauna, steam room and more.  The Rockwell mall and Ateneo graduate school are accessible. There's this fully-furnished unit that I've been eyeing on and I posted its pictures here. Unit 1409 of the Manansala is for rent. I saw the pictures of that unit online and I fell in love. I love minimalist and elegant designs. It's interior fits the description. I hope I'll be able to buy a condo that looks like this. I have to work hard to earn enough money to buy myself a nice pad.

Iphone 3GS is on top of my wishlist :P

Techonology really does wonders. I'm a fan of Apple products. Thanks to Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs and other people behind the Apple corporation because I'm enjoying products like Macbook, Ipod and Apple Airport Express. There's one product that I've been eyeing on for the past few weeks. I have to say that it's on top of my wish list right now. It's the Apple Iphone 3GS. 

I read about its features and it has a camera, video camera, compass etc. You can use the internet with it. It's touch screen. It's fast. You can load applications without having to wait for a long time. There are a lot of applications to choose from. I heard that there's this cool application called pocket guitar and then I've tried the digital zippo lighter. It's fun. Some applications are not really a necessity. It's also pricey. The 32GB Iphone 3GS that I want costs 299 dollars. When I told my parents I wanted the Iphone 3GS, they laughed and said, "Why? Are you already working?" They said that I can only have one if I start earning money and work to buy the things that I want. 

I love you Miata MX-5!!!

While I was passing by Mazda Ortigas branch, I saw my dream car. It's the 2009 Mazda MX-5. It was on display. Wow! Everything about it is just perfect except the price tag. Hahaha! it costs around 2 million PHP.

I've always dreamed of having my own sports car. I love watching people drift and I want to learn how to drift. Have you ever seen someone drift? If you haven't watch any Too Fast Too Furious movie and you'll be amazed. I just love the screeching sound that you hear when you drift. Even though I haven't test drove this Miata, I know it's the perfect car for me because it comes in this stunning shade of yellow, it's small and light. It's a convertible. It's keyless. It's got speed. You can start the car even without inserting a key and having to twist that key. The only problem that I have with Miata is that it's a two-seater vehicle. I want to be able to take my friends on a joy ride. With the Miata, I can only invite 1 friend. I learned from a review, that the seats are cozy and comfortable. That's good. I'm also planning on buying Recaro seats if ever I'll get my own sports car. As for the moment, I really want a Miata MX-5. Santa Claus, please give me one for Christmas. I've been good lately. Hahaha! LOL.

Bombings in Cotabato, Iligan and Jolo

Everybody knows about the bombings that happened in Cotabato, Iligan and Jolo. What affected me most is the Cotabato bombing, the deadly bombing near a cathedral. Almost 10 people died and 100 people were wounded. What disturbed me really was knowing that the people behind the bombing obviously strategically planned to bomb a place of worship where people are gathered to pray. I believe that we should respect the religions of other people and not try to disrupt it's religious practices in any way.

We don't know who the people behind the bombing were but we know the victims. The victims are poor people from the Mindanao region. While bombings continue to happen in the Mindanao area, it's hard to believe that the government is allotting millions or even billions of pesos for national security. What are organizations like AFP and PNP doing about this? They must do everything in their power to stop the bombings because it's their responsibility to protect the Filipino people. PGMA even cancelled her plans of going to Cotabato. If she wants good publicity(Im sure she wants it because of the pictures of her all over MRTs and LRTs), going to Cotabato will surely give her that. The victims of the bombing need rescue and support.

 

The good news of the day - 1.50php cutoff on Shell's gasoline

I read the newspapers everyday and you know what's common among all of them? Most of the articles in the newspapers are about the negative things that happen to our country. There's the bombing in Cotabato city, water crisis, Visayas oil spill and many more. However, when I read the newspapers this morning, there's one heading that made my day. =) It was the one about shell cutting off gasoline prices by 1.50 php.

Food, gas and clothes are the things that I spend my allowance on. The prices of these commodities continue to rise as the years pass by. Gasoline is a big bulk of my expenses. From QC, I have to drive to Taft and go home to QC. It's kind of far because it takes two hours to go back and forth from QC to Taft and from Taft to QC. It requires a lot of gas. When I learned about the cutoff this morning, I told myself, "what a relief!". Finally, there's a good news that will brighten up my day. I got so excited that I drove to the nearest gasoline station and asked the gasoline boy to fill up my car's tank with gasoline.

Please don't file a COC, Mr. Estrada

COMELEC commissioner Rene Sarmiento said recently that former president, Erap Estrada can file a certificate of candidacy. There are allegations that he will be running for president again. What a horror! He's my least favorite president. He's actually our neighbor here in New Manila. We always pass by his "Boracay Mansion". It's a living proof of corruption and his obsession to luxury and yet his slogan is "Erap, para sa mahirap". Oh come on.

He's just the worst president ever! He dropped out of college and became a movie star. I think I might have personal grudges against him. He's slogan is just far out. When he became president, the poor became poorer. I can only recall the bad things that happened to his term. He slowed down economic growth. He was charged with graft and corruption and was house arrested. Why would he want to run for office again? He would need to spend millions or even billions of pesos for campaigning for a low-paying government job. Why would Erap want to spend millions for just a low-paying job? It's obvious that he has plans of corruption again. I wouldn't want that to happen. Let's face it, he has chances of winning in the elections and I don't want him to win.

Stop sweating GMA's breast implants!

It has been reported in the media that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was hospitalized recently because her breast implants leaked. I was shocked when I learned about this. I asked myself, why would the president want to have breast implants? But it's really none of my business. She underwent the surgery a few years back (1980's i think). I am not in the position to make a fuss about it because I believe that women have inherent and sole rights to their bodies. They can do whatever they want with it. PGMA has all the right to do what she wants to her body. 

The media is popularizing and making a big deal out of PGMA's breast implants. I actually think that there's nothing wrong with what PGMA did. It's a private matter. Even if she's a public figure she still has the right to privacy. We don't need to interfere with private matters like this. There are more pressing matters that concern the nation. There are more important issues that the media has to attend to or disseminate information on. The print media looked like tabloid to me when they made a big deal out of PGMA's implants. The TV news looked like The Buzz or Startalk to me when they covered the story. The news media is profit-oriented. They would cover and exaggerate stories even if they don't concern the nation. What will we gain if we dwell on an irrelevant matter like this? Nothing. We're being "chismosos" and "chismosas" which is not good. 

Your heartbeat could have stopped but the beat of your music lives on

Michael Jackson is one popular figure with many contributions in the field of music. One of his His best-selling albums, Thriller is still on top of the charts up to now in terms numbers of copies sold. Over 100 million copies of his album thriller was sold in the market making him and his music popular. Who doesn't know MJ? He's overflowing with talents. He has a nice voice. He has unique dance moves like the moonwalk wich other artists try to replicate. Many artists draw inspiration for him like Gary Valenciano and Justin Timberlake.

You may think that Michael Jackson has everything. You may think that he lived the good life since he has fame, money and the talent. But according to MJ himself, his life is incomplete. He is not satisfied with his life. He wasn't able to enjoy his childhood because his father always pushed him to perform and make no mistakes. His father didn't treat him well. He was beaten up by his father a lot of times. He claimed that his father abused him which made his childhood tragic. This is probably the reason why he created the Neverland ranch. It was named after Peter Pan's, Neverland. MJ;s Neverland ranch has a zoo, amusement park and two railroads. I think MJ spearheaded the construction of all these to make up for his tragic childhood. He probably thought that all these would make things right for him which I think did not really happen. He engaged in drugs and was involved in four cases of molestation.

A lesson that can be learned here is that children should never be beaten up or forced to do things. This will have a psychological effect on them. An example of a psychological effect is repression. Repression in psychoanalytic theory, is removing distressing memories from our conscious mind. In the case of MJ, it's distressing his painful childhood memories through the creation of the Neverland ranch. Repression leads to anxiety. Another lesson that can be learned here is that parents and children must maintain good relationships. You'll never know when you're time is up and you're life is over. If you have problems with your dad or any member of your family, try to patch things up before it's too late. :( Another lesson here is that we should enjoy childhood, adulthood, senior citizenship and teenage life. We should live our lives to the fullest. We can only be children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens once in a lifetime.

Automated elections 2010

We all know about that we might have automated elections here in the Philippines on May 2010. Computers will be used to count votes in precincts. 800 ballots will be scanned in each computer provided by Smartmatic International. If i'm not mistaken, the process that will be done is called optical scanning. It's the same kind of technology used by US and UK for their elections. After ballots are scanned, no more human intervention is needed. The results of the elections will available after three days. The results will be sent by the computers to us through satellites, SMS and calls. According to an article that I read in the Philippine daily inquirer, it's 100 percent accurate. If ever the system crashes, the ballots will still available for manual counting.

I am for this automated elections. Gone are the days where nuns have to protect ballot boxes and people have to wait for months for the election results. We are in the year 2009. Modern times call for modern ways. I can't say for sure that this advancement in technology will help prevent cheating in elections. But given the fact that no human intervention will be needed after all the votes have been scanned in the computer, is promising. Human intervention is just scary when it comes to counting the ballots. We live in a society where money is a god. Money can alter the results of the elections. That's why I'll trust a computer more. I think it's less susceptible to cheating. Unless, computer programmers and technicians are bribed to hack the system or something. I just hope that this automated elections will push through and that it will pave the way for a clean and honest election. If the operations are successful and that no cheating was done, we can set an example to other countries in Asia who are still stuck with manual elections.

My stand on China's Green Dam project

China is currently spending millions of Yuan for the Green Dam internet filtering project. The Chinese government said that their main purpose for implementing this project is filtering pornography. They will filter what Chinese people can access in the internet. They will ban pornography.

I think that this Green Dam internet filtering project's real purpose is to block out negative publicity about the Chinese government and to monitor what the Chinese people are doing while using the computer. It's a ploy for surveillance and for the public opinion not to think negatively of officials like Hujintao. The supposedly anti-pornography purpose of the project is just a mask. Who's to say that pornography is bad? I am an interpretivist and I believe that reality is interpreted through the mind. What is good and bad are socially-constructed. Pornography is bad only if you believe that it's bad. For me it's not bad. It's just that the Catholic church has attached a negative stigma to sex and anything related to sex but in reality, it's just part of human nature. Why filter out things that are part of human nature? Going back to the Chinese government blocking publicity, the Chinese government is accountable to their people. The Chinese people have all the right to know what's going on with their government. On the issue of surveillance, the Chinese people have the right to privacy. It's a universal and inalienable right. Even an insititution like the Chinese government cannot take away that right.

I say no to China's Green Dam Project!

"Yo Mama's Last Supper" by Renee Cox

"Yo Mama's last supper" by Renee Cox is a photograph of an African-American woman with twelve African men dining in a long table just like Jesus and his disciples during the last supper. The African-American woman is naked.

I decided not to post the work here because I find it very disrespectful. It disrespects the Catholic Church because of how the work portrayed Jesus as a naked African American woman. I don't understand why the artist decided to do that. Renee Cox also disrepected Leonardo da Vinci because "Yo Mama's Last Supper" was patterned from Da Vinci's "Last Supper". I just feel that she made fun of Da Vinci's masterpiece. Renee Cox defended arguments against her work by saying that we are created in the image and likeness of God and that she can portray God like herself(an African-American woman). I just don't feel that there is a need to portray the teaching that we are created in the image and likeness of God literally. Renee Cox literally portrayed Jesus as a naked African woman. Why did the woman have to be nude? It just doesn't make sense. I learned that the main themes of her works(mostly photographs) are debunking stereotypes and empowering women. In "Yo Mama's Last Supper", I'm guessing that she wanted to debunk the stereotype that men are more capable to be leaders that's why she portrayed Jesus as a woman.

Renee's argument is really strong but the photograph still disturbs me.

Damien Hirst's "For the Love of God"

Wahhhhhh. I just find this artwork super scary. This artwork was made by Damien Hirst last 2007. It's made out of platinum, diamonds and human teeth. The number of diamonds used for this artwork is 8,601. That's 1,116 karats. According to a site, it's the most expensive work of art. You will need about 16-20 million USD to create it. To purchase it you need 99 million USD.

What exactly is Damien Hirst's purpose in making "For the Love of God"? It was created to depict the ultimate victory of death or the maximum celebration you could make after death. I beg to disagree. I don't see the work as a depiction of ultimate victory of death. To me, it's nothing but a glittering overpriced material object intended for the artist to make money out of. If I had 99 million USD to spend, I won't spend it on this crap. Yes, diamonds are a woman's best friend but I just don't appreciate diamonds attached to a scary skull. I'd rather go shopping, travel, buy myself a car and of course, feed the children in Africa. <3>