ouch, natamaan ako. haha :P

hail, queen justine!

So deliriously happy. Justine is back as world number 1 and won the Year-end Championships. Hail, Queen Justine! What more can an obsessed fanatic like me hope for? Well, there’s the elusive Wimbledon title, of course, but there’s always next year. Right now I’m so so so ecstatic, thrilled, elated, in high spirits, blissful, exultant, delighted, overjoyed, and on cloud nine (thanks, thesaurus), and I’m sure Team Justine and the rest of her fans all over the world are too.

Such a great week in Madrid. I wasn’t really expecting too much from her because she was recovering from an injury and she wasn’t able to play any warm-up matches prior to the event. But she showed everyone that she truly is a fighter and gave her all in her matches. And believe me, when she gets aggressive and takes all her chances (which was sorely lacking in the US Open finals), she’s absolutely incredible to watch. This has been an amazing year for her, and she’s definitely gonna enjoy her vacation driving her brand-new Porsche around.

And what did I enjoy the most? Justine beating Maria in the semi-finals. Take that, Screamapova. Revenge is so sweet. *manic laughter* No, really, it’s not just about avenging that loss in the US Open. I just think that Maria is waaay overrated considering her talent and technique. The fact that she’s probably the fittest and healthiest of the bunch but still wasn’t able to grab the title proves that she’s just a product of media hype. Hee. (All right, I may be exaggerating a bit, but lots of real tennis fans would agree with me.)

Anyway, Justine and coach Carlos should know by now that Justine delivers better results when she’s well-rested before a major tournament. When she joins warm-up events kasi, she plays to win and often reaches the semis or finals (of the warm-up), so she’s a bit tired entering the Grand Slam. Other players tend to join just for the sake of joining, giving just 50% in their matches. In a way, this is a good strategy because they save their energies and technique for the bigger event, but it’s unfair to other players and the viewing public. Maybe Justine should hold herself back just a tiny bit during warm-up events so she could be fresh for the Grand Slam. This is especially crucial during the grass court season (Wimbledon), which starts just two weeks after the clay court season (French Open).

Hmm… Now the downside in the Madrid Masters. Justine herself admitted that it wasn’t her best tennis all throughout the tournament, and I agree. Of course, I wasn’t expecting her to bagel (tennis lingo for 6-0) her opponents because they’re the elite 8 after all, but there are times that she could’ve played better. Or maybe her opponent just raised their level of playing in those moments. I don’t know.

I was also a bit disappointed that the championship point was a double fault from Mauresmo. I kinda felt that Amelie gave away the point na lang so as not to prolong the agony, as she was down 5-3 40-15 in the second set. A very long rally culminating in a backhand winner from Justine would’ve been more thrilling. But hey, a win is a win no matter what, so I ain’t complaining.

A bigger disappointment for me was that Justine won only 6 out of 17 break points (actually just 6 out of 8 games, most of the break points are from the never-ending deuce). Had she converted more break points, she could’ve closed the match quickly. Of course, credit is due to Amelie because she managed to save several break points and didn’t let her nerves get the better of her during those crucial moments.

So there. Thus ended the 2006 tennis season. Can’t wait ‘til the Australian Open next year! Allez, Justine!

talent over hype

i couldn't believe it. justine beat maria sharapova 6-2 7-6 (7-5) in the semi-finals. yay, justine! i think i'm the happiest girl in the world. haha. imagine, la shrieka committed 34 unforced errors to justine's 17. whoa, right? talent prevails over media hype! :P

so this means whatever happens in the finals (which will be against amelie mauresmo who beat kim clijsters. tsk, no chance of all-belgian finals.), justine already is ranked number one in the world. how great is that? i love justine! too bad she's straight.

allez, justine!

Don't look now, but I'm turning into The World's Most Boring Person of the Year. My current obsessions? Classical music and crossword puzzles. Goodness. Classical music is all right, but crossword puzzles? I mean, that's for old fuddy-duddy people waiting at bus stops and train stations. Oh well. Blame it on Justine's right knee and the two kittens I keep in my room. I actually copied several CDs of classical music to my PC then moved my PC to my room so the kittens could hear Chopin and Mozart while they sleep. Crazy, huh?

Back to Justine. She had to rest for several weeks because of her injured knee, so she didn't play in any tournaments after the US Open and the Fed Cup finals. Watching TV and surfing the internet suddenly wasn't as fun anymore 'cause there weren't any news about her (OMG, how will I manage after she officially retires? Oh, the agony!). Besides, I couldn’t bear to watch La Shrieka Sharapova’s amazing streak post-US Open (3 titles in 1 month! And after a Grand Slam at that! Is that even humanly possible? Makes you wonder what they put in their water in Russia. Or in MaSha’s bananas.) and how confident she is of her chances of winning the WTA Year-end Championships in Madrid. Blech. Of course her chances are big. I mean, the better players are beset by injuries (Justine and her knee, Kim Clijsters and her wrist, sige na nga, Mauresmo and her shoulder), and the others just aren’t mentally tough enough to withstand Glam Girl’s pornographic shrieks (J. Zafra’s description, not mine) on court.

I know what you’re thinking. Pau is just bitter because Maria (in an Audrey Hepburn-inspired outfit) beat Justine in the US Open. Well, of course I am! So so so frustrating that tough-as-nails-with-a-backhand-from-God Justine lost to a player of Maria’ caliber. Maria might be focused and determined as hell, but I’m sorry to say, she’s nowhere near the talent of Justine and Martina Hingis, sequins or no sequins (still not over that dress, aren’t we?).

But Maria did win, you would say. I tell you, it’s just luck. And probably a bit of draw-rigging by the WTA powers-that-be. I mean, look at the draw! Justine faced tougher opponents like Jelena Jankovic, Ai Sugiyama and Lindsay Davenport, and she could’ve had Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva or Nicole Vaidisova. Fine, Maria had Hingis, Serena Williams and Mauresmo in her half, but Hingis and Williams weren’t in their top form yet, Mauresmo is always attacked by nerves, and Maria would only face either Williams or Mauresmo in the semi-finals. I even read somewhere that it’s strange that Maria almost always never gets to play the hottest players of the season in any of her tournaments. I guess the WTA recognizes Maria as a crowd drawer and they want to milk her for all she’s worth. Or they’re just trying to make up for the hype over Anna Kournikova several years back (hell, until now) that they’re parading Maria around. “Look, guys, another blonde teenager from Russia like Kournikova, but hey, Maria actually gets past the second round!”

*buntong hininga* Well, that’s the way it is. Sports is fast becoming showbiz-y, with all the TV and internet coverage. But I digress. So where’s the crossword puzzle connection? Well, duh. With Justine out of the circuit for more than a month, I turned to solving crosswords in the PDI. Later, I bought this crosswords magazine/digest in Book Sale and I’ve been staying up late every night this week just to finish the damn thing. But, no, actually, I was just looking for an excuse to write about Justine (and gripe about Sharapova). Hee.

Anyway, so excited that Justine is playing in the Madrid Masters this week. That in itself is already an achievement according to her, considering that they weren’t even sure until last week if her knee would heal in time, plus the fact that she missed the event for the past two years due to injuries. She won her opening match against Hingis last Tuesday in three sets. Justine choked in the second set, but that was understandable since she wasn’t able to play in any warm-up tournaments in Madrid. Next up, Nadia Petrova (yet another blonde teenager from Russia!). Allez, Justine!


* * *

In other news (non-tennis related, that is), I’ll be walking down the aisle this December. Not as a bride, mind you, but as a bridesmaid for my cousin’s wedding. I haven’t seen the design for our gown yet, but the motif is baby pink, so I’m cool. I just hope it wouldn’t be full of ruffles or frills. Eew. Haha.

I have a little more than a month to prepare for the big day, so must play badminton more often, stay out of the sun as much as possible and eat healthful stuff. Right.

OMG! adidas! Sale! Up to 50% off! Selected stores nationwide! Until September 30 only! Aack!

*sigh*

Another reason why I hate being stuck here. :(

Is there anybody out there who could buy me Justine's gear from adidas? I will love you forever, I swear.

And throw in a tennis racket while you're at it to complete my tennis buff look. :P

Dear Justine,

Congratulations on being only the seventh woman since 1968 to reach the finals of all four major Grand Slams in the same year. You join the ranks of Martina Navratilova (quite a mouthful, isn't it?), Monica Seles, Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis. Granted, being second place is probably the most disappointing place ever, but no one can’t deny that you have had the most impressive season so far. No amount of bananas or pretty shirts can buy you that.

Kisses, Pau

a long and rambling post

Part I

I blame my father for making Justine drop a set in her semi-finals match against Jankovic. He kept saying she’ll double fault, or her return would be too long, or Jankovic would hit a winner. He was just sending negative vibes to NY that I was thankful he went to bed at the start of the second set. So there I was at around 2:30 am this morning, rooting for Justine. Jessica Zafra has this theory about tennis players and their fans. Something like the fans can actually will their player to win. And not just the fans in the stadium itself, but the millions worldwide watching the match live on TV. More on that next time.

Anyway, that this morning’s two-hour semi-final between Justine and Jankovic is thrilling is an understatement. More like cardiac arrest-inducing. At least for a JHH fan.

During the first set and early in the second set, Justine was clearly frustrated. Jankovic was on a roll from her previous matches with top 10 seeds, so she was more relaxed, therefore played well. It was also her first time to reach the semi-finals of a major tournament, so she was understandably excited and bubbling with energy.

I think I actually burned calories just by watching the match. My heart was pounding so fast; I don’t know if I’d ever been that nervous before. At one point (probably when Jankovic was leading 3-2 in the second set), my hands were shaking that I almost dropped a glass. For several moments there, I thought Justine was going to lose in straight sets.

But Justine showed her maturity and experience as she began to turn the match in her favor in the middle of the second set. She was down 2-4, but she broke Jankovic’s serve. Justine regained her composure and seemed more relaxed from then on. She went on to win the second set 6-4. Justine then held all her serves and broke all Jankovic’s in the third set, clinching the match at 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Anyway, during the first half of the match, it seemed to me that Jankovic wasn’t playing so seriously. It was as if she was more concerned with putting a show for the crowd. Jankovic’s theatrics probably rankled Justine, who may have wanted to scream at one point or another “A Grand Slam title is at stake here! Focus, girl!”

But really, you cannot possibly know how nervous I was while watching the match. I knew that anything less than the finals in the US Open would be disappointing for her. Plus, I didn’t want her to lose to the 19^th seed who had this 0-10 losing streak earlier this year. If Justine had to exit before the finals, I’d rather have her lose to, say, Davenport or Dementieva (Jankovic’s opponent in the quarterfinals). At least they’re established players.

Told ya Jankovic’s luck would run out when she meets Justine. Allez, Justine!

Part II

Jankovic is such a brat. I was reading the transcript of her interview after her loss to Justine in the semi-finals, and Jankovic really sounded like a whiny loser. She kept complaining about the umpire and implied that Justine was just faking her back pain in the first set and half of the second.

JJ: I was up 4-2 and lost my concentration with the umpire, and then with her, she was kind of saying, Oh, I have pain in my back, I can't do this and that.
And then when she started winning, she starts playing all of a sudden so good, so well, and serving big and everything changed.

Q. Did you hear her say anything when you say, Oh, my back? Did she actually say her back hurts?
JJ: No, but she was like (bending over holding her back). … But I think from my point of view, I think you should play fair. And if you have pain, you have pain. But then when you if you have really pain, then you gonna have pain when you're winning, as well. But then how come when she's winning, she serves like 120 mile serve, and then when she's losing, she barely pushes it back? Just to kind of say, Oh, that's why I'm losing or something.

I mean, duh! First off, Justine has every right to stretch her back in between serves. The commentator was even saying that Jankovic should thank Justine for making her serve wait. Jankovic had time to catch her breath and relax a bit. Besides, what can you expect of Justine during the first half of the match? Her service is a disaster, her opponent is completely dominating the rallies, and she’s racking up unforced errors. Of course she’s gonna feel her pain more acutely than ever. Later, when she had gained her rhythm back, she could ignore the pain, coz, hell, she’s winning!

And there was that crap about the physiotherapist. So what if Jankovic had to see a physio after her doubles match? Justine had to see a medical trainer during her match with Davenport. That levels everything off. It’s just so annoying of Jankovic to insinuate that Justine acted that she was in so much pain to deliberately throw her game off. I mean, wow, how unprofessional could you get, right? Jankovic was right when she said she could’ve won the match, only that she lost her focus during the latter half. But by complaining about the umpire, the wind, Justine’s “acting skills,” it was like she was blaming everyone but herself for her loss. I understand that she was disappointed, but she crossed the line by making those disparaging remarks. She just came off as a sore loser.

What really pissed me off was what she said in the end of her interview. “… I don't like to talk about the other players. I prefer if I can say something about the player, I prefer to say something nice. I don't want to say any negative stuff about the players.”

Oh, really now? Grr...

Part III

Justine will face Maria Sharapova in the finals. Interesting tidbit: Win or lose, Maria will still remain as number 3 in the world. However, if [when] Justine wins, she’ll climb to the number 1 spot again. Ooh… so exciting. Another cardiac arrest-inducing match.

on to the [semi]finals

Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-4 in the US Open quarterfinals. Justine will face 19^th seed Jankovic in the semis tomorrow, Friday.

Yay, Justine! Damn, she’s so good.

I did find the channel covering the US Open. Good news: they broadcast the matches live, then replay it several hours later. The catch: the live broadcast is on 11 pm, and the replay 7 am (usually) the next day. Haha. The matches start at 11 am in Flushing Meadows, NY kasi, so there’s (more or less) a 12-hour time difference.

I was so frustrated because I wasn’t able to catch any of Justine’s first four matches. I did see her third round match against Ai Sugiyama but it was a replay in this Japanese channel, so obviously they showed most of the first set (coz Sugiyama won it) and only bits of the second and third sets. I actually got out of bed early yesterday (like 7 am) because Justine and Lindsay’s quarterfinal round was originally scheduled in the night session (7pm in NY). But it rained and rained in NY so all matches were suspended. Their match was moved to the afternoon the next day. So I stayed up until around 4:00 am this morning watching Justine play.

It was worth the wait, of course. Actually, people weren’t expecting Justine to win in straight sets, thinking that Lindsay, who won the US Open in 1998, would at least take a set. But I guess Justine has the advantage of relative “youth” (she’s 6 years younger than Lindsay) and more time on court this year (she’s been to the finals of the three Grand Slams this year plus several lower-tiered tournaments, while Lindsay hasn’t played in months). I’m not saying that Justine shouldn’t have won. It’s just that Lindsay is taller and more powerful than Justine so she could’ve had put up a stiffer resistance.

Anyway, she’s facing Jelena Jankovic (pronounced as ye-LE-na yan-ko-vich) in the semis. To tell you the truth, I’m more scared of Jankovic than Davenport. Jankovic is younger (and taller) than Justine, and went to the famed Nick Bollettieri tennis school (Sharapova was one of her “batchmates”). Jankovic already disposed three top seeds to reach the semifinals: Vaidisova, Kuznetsova and Dementieva. I was able to watch her matches with Kuznetsova and Dementieva, and I was struck by how cool and calm she was. In contrast, her opponents were obviously becoming more nervous and frazzled as the match progressed, racking up lots of unforced errors. Jankovic is really on a roll in this tournament. But of course, as a dedicated JHH fan, I know that Jankovic’s luck (how else will you explain her streak?) will run out when she meets Justine in the semifinals tomorrow. For sure. :D

Allez, Justine!

I can't seem to find any telecast, live or replay, of the US Open 2006. I keep switching to ESPN because it's supposed to be covering the last Grand Slam of the year, but it's always golf or football/soccer. OK, we did see the Agassi-Pavel first round match last Monday (which was probably the most thrilling first round match EVER, partly because Agassi will retire after this year's US Open so this is his last shot EVER), but it was in another channel. And then no more tennis in any of the sports channels sa cable. Oh sure, there were news bits in this Sport Update channel, but then they showed updates from all sports so you had to endure boring news about rugby and cricket before you could watch news from tennis. And they kept repeating the same stuff for several hours until more recent news could come in.

*sigh*

If it's any consolation, I could always get news from the internet. But then it's just not the same as watching the whole match. Oh well. Grr... So frustrating.

I feel like I’m 21 going 100. I feel so tired, overwhelmed and out-of-sync. But most of all, I feel frustrated at the futility of it all. I mean, the recurring thought in my brain for the past several months has been “why bother?” Why bother getting up in the morning (which, for my body clock, is around 11 am), why bother eating, why bother tuning in to stupid telenovelas when they all follow the same stupid clichés anyway, why bother with anything at all.

*sigh*

Everything is just so wrong. Wrong course, wrong school, wrong choices, wrong timing, wrong everything. I feel so worthless. And puny. Like a tiny speck of dirt on a glass window in a skyscraper. Bad analogy, I know. That’s how stupid I’ve become after more than a year of being a bum.

I just want to go far, far away from here. From everything familiar. From everything that’s driving me insane. From everything that’s pulling me down..

Needless to say, that longer entry I promised would be far, far away, too. I do have a draft, but I can’t seem to turn it into something coherent. I just can’t write anymore. I feel so tired and empty. So so tired.

Well, goodbye for now.

i feel like an ugly duckling today.

i hate the new biolink commercial.

*sigh*

Justine won't be playing in the Roger's Cup in Montreal. Darn it. Boo. Boo-hoo. Kainis.

It's been nothing but golf and boxing on TV lately, and I'm getting impatient for tennis. No, Andie, this has nothing to do with tennis skorts. What's underneath the skorts, though... Haha, just kidding. :P

Here are Justine's upcoming tournaments. Just can't wait.

14/08	Rogers Cup
28/08	US Open
16/09	Fed Cup Final 2006

P. S.

That longer entry I promised? Uh... It's gonna be delayed. Very delayed. I had to have this computer fixed and reformatted, and it took days. And the stupid thing is, it still ain't fixed. *roll eyeballs* So there. Plus the fact that I've been braindead for the past week. Oh well.

Due to insistent public demand (and by public I mean Andie), I am updating this blog. This is kinda worthless though. A longer entry will follow soon. :)

We all know Justine Henin-Hardenne lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the Wimbledon finals, like, eons ago, but I’m still moping about that defeat. So for several weeks now I’ve been switching to sports channels, hoping to catch replays of tournaments she won, like the Roland Garros and Dubai Open. And I’ve been reading up on her and downloading her pictures (preferably the ones where she’s holding a trophy) from the Internet. Wow. I’ve made such good use of my time, haven’t I?

Anyway, she’s supposed to be resting now, so she’ll be joining just a few minor tournaments. Although she’s sure to be in the US Open later this month and the Fed Cup finals in September, so I’ll be looking forward to those. Allez, Justine!

Well, that’s all for now. Til next time.

Justine Fever

Justine is pretty enough as she is...

victorious concentration (www.wimbledon.org)

... but make-up really glams her up. :D


lovely. just lovely. :P click on the picture for a larger image. (www.henin-hardenne.be)

I'm so sad I can't even watch the replay

“Amelie was just too good today,”

Justine Henin-Hardenne was gracious in her defeat in the 2006 Wimbledon Finals by Amelie Mauresmo, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Darn. I was unfortunately right in thinking that Justine ought to win in straight sets, otherwise, she’ll have a hard time getting the third. So sayang. She played exceptionally well during the first set; her best so far in the tournament, if the commentator is to be believed. But then Mauresmo gained momentum in the second set (probably because her fans kept shouting “Go, Amelie!” to boost her confidence) and Justine was already tired from playing almost nonstop since the French Open, so Mauresmo won.

Tough luck. First runner-up again. Tsk tsk. She must be very disappointed, especially because she piled up so many unforced errors. Oh, well. There’s always next year, right? But she better improve her forehand! I mean, Mauresmo knew Justine’s backhand is deadly, so she kept forcing Justine to use her not-so-spectacular forehand. Granted, Justine had a lot of forehand winners in that match, but then again some of her crucial unforced errors were due to her faulty forehand.

Dammit. I’m feeling depressed for her. I think I’m gonna be listless for several days, just like the time when I finished reading HP6. I just feel so f*cking helpless and disappointed. She was so damn close to winning the title. I guess this is why I’ve never been a big sports fan, because it’s so frustrating to see your player/team lose after such a stellar performance.

(What makes me feel even more frustrated is that the runner-up doesn’t get to triumphantly climb the bleachers to reach her coach and family at the end of the match. I so want to know how she and her husband would react. Would they just hug, or would they actually kiss? I mean, they’re married, after all. Haha, showbiz ba? :P)

But look on the bright side, HH fans. The Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam title that has eluded her so far, so she won’t stop playing until she wins that. Ergo, she won’t be retiring soon. That would give me time to save enough money to travel to London and watch Justine play in the Wimbledon. Yay! Hehe. Libre lang naman mangarap, di ba?

Happy for Henin

So friggin’ happy. Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Kim Clijsters in the semifinals, 6-4, 7-6. It was a very close fight – HH almost lost the second set. Thank goodness she was able to catch up and force a tie breaker. YAY, JUSTINE! One step closer to reaching your Wimbledon dream. (I still do not know who she’ll face in the final round, though. As of press blog time, Mauresmo has won the first set against Sharapova.)

So Justine won the six previous rounds in straight sets. Her play was quite aggressive and she was unrelenting to her opponents. Each round was more or less an hour, save for the quarterfinals, it was 83 minutes. Such grit and determination. Although that might work to her disadvantage, if, for example, the final round stretches to three sets. Can she handle one or two more hours in the court? Again, it’s gonna be tough, but I believe in her. I’m fervently hoping she’ll finally add the Wimbledon title to her collection of Grand Slams.

Anyway, additional stuff for my previous post.

Dont' take that "who cares about the World Cup" seriously, okay? I think football is a great sport, and that we Pinoys would be better off in football than in basketball, coz let's face it, we're just not tall enough to shoot hoops. We even have to import players fercryinoutloud. It's just that I'm more familiar with tennis players than football teams, so Wimbledon it is. Ayt?

Back to Justine. When she's serving, she doesn’t purse her lips pala. It’s kinda weird, I dunno if I could explain it here. Her mouth is half-open and her lower lip kinda curls over her (lower) teeth. It's like she's grimacing in concentration. Gets? Probably not. Just look for her pictures in the Wimbledon website. :P

I mentioned that Justine’s back hand is said to be superb. I was wrong. It’s not just superb. It’s one of the best in the world.

I watched some replays, and I realized she didn’t have a relatively easy time getting to the semifinals. Severine Bremond, her opponent in the quarterfinals, was a fighter. Bremond was unseeded, yet Justine had to work hard to win those 12 games. Bremond certainly didn’t give in easily. She did not “go gentle into that good night,” so to speak. According to the commentator, Justine seemed rattled while Bremond was quite relaxed during their time off in the middle of the second set. Justine was leading then, but the score, I think, was 4-3, so it was very close.

Bremond is definitely worth watching out for. After her terrific tennis in the quarterfinals, it won’t be surprising to see her among the Top 20 in the next two years or so.

Two reasons why I think Belgium is so great: chocolates and Henin-Hardenne! Heehee. Yay, Justine!

Wimbledon Fever

Who cares about the World Cup when there's Wimbledon?

Semi-finals na, and it's getting more exciting, not to mention tension-filled. Henin-Hardenne vs Clijsters and Mauresmo vs Sharapova. I can't explain why, but I'm rooting for Henin-Hardenne. Probably coz she's won all the Grand Slam tournaments except Wimbledon. So she's very very very determined to win this year. And coz she's cute *idiotic grin*. Just don't look at her face while she's serving, though. Her eyes get really huge and her lips are pursed in concentration; it's actually scary.

I'm kinda scared for her. In her past matches (in Wimbledon), she's had a relatively easy time, making mincemeat out of her opponents and always winning in just two sets. But it's the semis now. It's the battle of the WTA Top 4. She's facing fellow Belgian Clijsters, ranked number 2. And when she gets past Clijsters (oh, she will, I'm telling you), she'll face either Mauresmo, number 1, or Sharapova, number 4 (lang :P) who won the tournament in 2004. Tough, tough, tough.

But then again, I have complete faith in her. I mean, she's not WTA number 3 for nothing. And she just won the French Open this year. And her backhand is said to be superb. And, as I already mentioned, she's very very very determined to win. So tomorrow night, my father, uncle and I are gonna be glued to the TV screen. And I'll be rooting for Henin-Hardenne. Yay, Justine! You go, girl!





Click here for Wimbledon's official website
Click here for Justine's official website

Agassi lost to Nadal. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*dead faint*

Why why why did he let Nadal catch up in the tie breaker during the first set!?!? It was already 5-2, in Agassi's favor, dammit. Then the tide turned, Nadal scoring five more points and winning the set. Aargh. And I was hoping for a Federer-Agassi face-off in the finals. *sniff*




(Click here for Wimbledon official report of the game.)

Original Friends DVD: almost P 2,000 per season x 10 seasons = P 20,000

Pirated Friends DVD: 60 DVDs x P 45 each = P2,700

Wow. Huuuge savings.

Next time I go to Divisoria, I'll bring enough money.

Lulu died today. Hit and run accident. Such rotten horrible cursed luck I have with the things I hold dear.

I’ve decided to temporarily quit blogging. I realized that it’s such a burden to regularly update an online journal, and I’ll probably be busy with my growing twins, Lulu and Chino, among other things. So I’m taking an indefinite leave of absence. I doubt that any of you would notice anyway. Hmph.

But before I leave, here are my huling hirit(s):

I’ve been a bum for a year now, and they’re persuading me to take a second course. One of their brilliant suggestions: nursing. No doubt so I could work abroad and send them oodles of cash. Whatever.

Lulu is getting bigger and bigger because she’s a voracious eater. Chino, on the other paw, is very choosy, so he’s getting thinner. And they don’t drink milk anymore, so I got worried and bought Pedigree. I know, I know, I swore before not to buy dog food because I believe it’s a luxury, but I was desperate then. I won’t buy them dog food anymore, though, because they prefer rice and kitchen scraps. Whew.

Oh, and we have another puppy, but her status in this house is still uncertain. The elders are beginning to think that we have more dogs that we could manage. So we’re hoping her mother’s owner would take her back, or else we’d have to give her away. It’s a pity, because she was starting to grow on me. She has the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen in a dog. But I know I have to let her go. *sniff*

I’ve been rereading Harry Potter books for the past couple of weeks (we have all six books now), looking for clues and other things I might’ve missed. I can’t wait for the seventh book, but I know it would take years before she could finish writing it. She said she’ll probably concentrate on her kids now. Nyargh. (Spoilers alert! Go to the next paragraph if you haven’t read 5 and 6 yet. ) I wanna find out if my theory about R.A.B. is right. But I’m also scared that I won’t like the ending. In her website, she did say she was going to kill another character, although I’m not sure when that was written: after Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix or Half-Blood Prince. Oh, well.

I read they’re filming OotP already. Nyargh. I hope they won’t release it soon, because my sister is still in the middle of GoF, and I don’t want her to watch OotP the movie without reading OotP the book. It’s my thing about film adaptations, see. Books before movies.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Check back in, hmm, say, nine months. I might have done something productive by then.

If you're going to Boracay this summer...

Okay, shameless plugging na ito… Kapag nasa Boracay kayo, please visit our outlet/eatery there. It’s called Tsikiting, located in D’Mall Rotonda, Station 2. We serve our products (longaniza, tocino, tapa, etc.) with rice and atsara. We also sell our products there so once you’ve tasted our yummy longaniza and tocino and tapa, etc, you might want to bring some home as pasalubong to your family and friends.

Just don’t expect five-star hotel-ish surroundings, okay? It’s not a big place so sometimes you might have to sit outside. Pero that’s the point of going to the beach naman, di ba? Besides, the prices are very affordable and the servers are very friendly, so it’s all worth it.

Hope to see you there! :)

more on oscar's finest

have you seen rachel weisz? man, she's gorgeous. pregnancy becomes her. i've loved her ever since i saw her in the mummy. i so wanna watch the constant gardener. i mean, rachel and ralph fiennes in one movie? that's a great bargain.

i read she's burberry's newest endorser. damn. that's way out of my budget. :P

happy days are here again

I’m so happy. Last Friday, an aunt dropped in and gave me the puppies she promised me. She owns Tiny’s mother, and fortunately the bitch (Tiny’s mother, not my aunt) gave birth to four puppies last January. So when she (my aunt, not the bitch) found out that Tiny passed away (*sniff*), she told me she’ll give me two puppies. Para may spare in case something bad happens again. (Maybe I should just ask for the mother, so I’ll have a puppy factory.)

The puppies are so cute! And they still have puppy breath! Isn’t that adorable? They’re still a month and a half, and I had thought of returning them to their mother so they could drink breast milk for at least a few more weeks. But my uncle dissuaded me, saying that the mother probably wouldn’t recognize them as her pups anymore. So I feed them with milk na lang. I was tempted to buy them Pedigree, but the humans in this house would surely kill me.

I christened the puppies Lulu and Chino. Lulu is female and has the same coloring as Tiny: white, with a brown head and brown spots at the back. I named the male Chino because he’s like a cappuccino upside down: brown body with white underbelly. Lulu is chubbier and big-boned while Chino is thinner and has longer legs.

Lulu’s feisty and the friskier of the two. And she’s fearless. I read somewhere that if you want to nip bad behavior at the bud, you should scare them with loud noises when you catch them in the act. Well, I saw Lulu enter the garage (it’s a forbidden zone) so I made loud noises to make her go out, but she wasn’t even startled. After one glance at me, she continued sniffing the floor so I had to carry her out.

I also caught Chino chewing a slipper and made loud noises again. He got scared and fled the scene. I doubt if he’ll ever chew another footwear again. He’s also the more laidback and subdued of the two. He toddles around slowly and cautiously, while Lulu would scamper about.

Lulu is more frolicsome than Chino when it comes to playing with humans. But when they’re playing with each other, I can’t make a generalization. Sometimes, Chino would just lie there and let Lulu “attack” his ears or tail. Other times, it’s the other way around. Most of the time, though, when both are in playful moods, they’ll attack each other with gusto.

They take their naps after playing, and I think it’s reflex that they curl against each other for warmth. And the positions they get into! One time, I saw them in what I call the yin and yang. Lulu’s head (or cheek) was on Chino’s hind leg, and Chino’s on Lulu’s. I so wanted to take their picture then and there, but I’ve become superstitious na. I don’t want to take a picture of them. I took gazillions of pictures of my three other dogs, and look what happened to them. I’ll probably take their picture when they’re five (human) years old already. :P

And for the nth time, they’re so cute! :D

P. S.

Our older puppy, Chico, is insanely jealous and absolutely terrified of the two. It's so amusing to watch him squirm and then later run for his life as the two curios little devils attack him.

To set the record straight...

I never had a bad ____friend (boy or girl, take your pick, both applies to me). Ever.

But I never had a good one either.

Have you seen McDonald’s McJelly commercial? The girl eating McJelly is so pretty and she looks like an angel. Truly an eye candy. Or, if the advertising people had their way, an eye McJelly.

I think the commercial was shot in McDo Katipunan. It’s a pity I wasn’t there. I might have been able to catch them shooting, and stared at the girl for as long as I want.

***

I was supposed to tell you to tune in to StarWorld this week because they’re airing reruns of Friends Season 10 every 7:30pm. But, alas, it’s too late. They aired the season (and show) finale last Monday night.

It was so bitin! First of all, I was under the impression that the show would last until Friday because in their farewell interview with Oprah (which they aired during the Friends timeslot last Thursday and Friday), they kept saying “This is the final week.” So I was anticipating a whole week of Friends. I even set an alarm in my cellphone to ring at 7:15 pm from Monday to Friday to remind me to “watch Friends in StarWorld.” So imagine my surprise at the end of the show when I realized I had just watched the last two episodes (they aired double episodes that night).

Second, I would never see how Monica and Chandler struggle through parenthood. I mean, it’s kinda unfair because they were the first couple to actually get married on the show itself and we never get to see them with kids of their own. Well, Ross and Rachel did get married in Las Vegas, but they were drunk and had to divorce later, so they don’t count. (And Ross’s other marriages don’t count, too. Like, duh.) I mean, we got to see Rachel as a single mom to Emma, so why didn’t the writers let Monica and Chandler adopt sooner? Why did they have to wait for nine months to get their baby and not go to an orphanage or adopt an Asian kid instead?

Third, the other episodes were kinda slow and didn’t add much to the whole story or the characters. They just showed ordinary things in the Friends’ lives (with a funny twist, of course). But in the last episodes, there were a lot of big changes in their lives that I can’t help but think “Boy, that was fast.”

In their interview with Oprah, the writers said that they wanted the audience to see that the Friends were going to be all right. I find it strange that their idea of “all right” is settling down and raising a family. I guess I’m in a stage in my life where getting married and having kids aren’t in my priorities.

Anyway, I was expecting a very funny, if not the funniest, episode, but I was disappointed. Though it was still funny, it was also sad, almost bittersweet. I mean, in the final scene, Rachel was the most teary-eyed of all. I was thinking, is that really part of the script or was Jennifer Aniston that emotional because it was their last shoot ever?

But I found it amusing that there were allusions (for the lack of a better term) to past incidents in other seasons in the last two episodes. It’s as if they were bringing the whole show to full circle. Phoebe’s taxi, Ross and Rachel’s “break”, a chick and a duck. Monica even says that all of them has lived in that apartment one time or another. It was cute. Hehe.

So what do I plan to do every night now that I’m bereft of my Friends? Probably play The Sims and build houses similar to the apartments in the show. Crazy, huh?

I just saw Keira Knightley in her Oscar’s finest in the newspaper kanina, and she looked stunning. She didn’t get the Best Actress trophy, though, and I don’t think Pride and Prejudice won any awards that night, but I’m not surprised. I mean, look at the other movies (and their cast) nominated this year. They tackled significant issues (homosexuality and women’s rights, to name a few) and were original. P&P is just a film adaptation, and it’s not even the first one. Film adaptations rarely do well in the Oscars, if they ever get nominated at all (with the exception, of course, of Lord of the Rings, partly because it was done differently, and had the talented and dedicated Peter Jackson for its director).

Anyway, I haven’t seen P&P yet, although I’ve read the book and was charmed by Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s love story. I hope I could catch the movie when I get back to Manila, partly because I suddenly had this thing about Keira being a brunette. I first saw her in Love Actually and liked her despite her blonde hair. And I liked their story, that weird love triangle. I initially thought that camera-toting guy was in love with his newly-married best friend, and didn’t get along with Keira’s character because he was jealous. I was like, OMG, please don't let this be a gay love story. But it turned out that the guy was actually in love with her. And that placard scene during the Christmas Eve just melted my heart.

Back to P&P. The reviews of the film are good, although I came across one that said Keira might have been too pretty for the character of Elizabeth who won Mr. Darcy over through her intelligence and not her beauty. Keira colored her hair dark brown for the film, probably to downplay her looks, but she was still more beautiful than the blonde Rosamund Pike who played Elizabeth’s eldest sister Jane, the supposedly celebrated beauty in Hertfordshire.

The review also said there was too much restrained emotions in the film that you would think you were in Bronte country rather than Austenland. I’ve seen trailers of the film and I see what the writer meant. There was a scene showing this field with a lone tree against the backdrop of a late afternoon sky, and the background music was so sad and almost mournful; I thought I was watching Wuthering Heights. They said it was more dark and gothic than lively and romantic. Oh well. Maybe I shouldn't watch it at all. Hmm...

http://mimingkuting.multiply.com/photos/album/15

I just realized we have lost three dogs in four months. Four, if you count the one we lost in the middle of last year. And our cats are getting older, too. I think they’ve hit menopause (or a dry spell in the mating season) because they haven’t been pregnant for a long time. Oh well.

Obvious ba na pets lang and inaatupag ko dito sa bahay? :P

What the heck. Even Tita Cory doesn't know what's happening in Fort Bonifacio. She just rushed there, with family and friends in tow. And they were surprised that they weren't allowed entry. What's their business there, anyway? Maybe Cory wants to be president again. Or worse, wants Kris to be president. Ick. Unfortunately, Cardinal Sin (may he forgive me for this) isn't around anymore to call upon the crucial middle class.

You know what, they really don't give a damn about honesty and democracy and all that morality crap. It's all about power struggle. They're thinking that Tita Glo is losing her grip already, so they're moving in for the kill.

Is there hope for our country? But then sometimes, hope is the biggest lie of all.



Postscript

Are they making Fort Bonifiacio the new EDSA? Gahd, I freaking hope not.

In 1986, People Power made the Filipinos "stand a little taller and walk a little prouder." 20 years later, can we still say the same? Can't we see that with every coup attempt and rally being staged, we are trampling upon the legacy of the EDSA I?

Enough with the power struggle already. There are other things that ought to be done.

sister act

taken last dec 5, 05. magkamukha ba kaming magkapatid? :P

my beloved pooch, tiny


doesn't she have the saddest eyes?

Tiny Bubbles, my beloved pet dog, shouldn’t have died today. Had I followed my ritual of greeting my pets first thing in the morning, she would probably still be alive. She would’ve gone back to the dirty kitchen area instead of playing by the highway. But it’s Sunday and we were already running late for church. I figured I could play with them longer after mass. I was wrong.

I cried. I cried because her death was cruel in its swiftness. One minute she was happily rolling on the ground, the next she was being hit on the head by a truck. I cried because she was just six months old – too young to die. We only had her for a few months. But I cried more for myself because I know I’m going to miss her terribly.

*sigh* Why do we have the worst luck when it comes to pet dogs? :(

If there’s one thing I am thankful to my ex for, it’s introducing me to the sitcom Friends (no, persuading me to wear short skirts and sleeveless tops doesn’t count). Although in retrospect, maybe the thanks should go to his roommate. Hmm…

I absolutely love Friends (despite the association). I tried watching (reruns of) other sitcoms, like Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Malcolm in the Middle, and Will and Grace, but they just don’t crack me up like Friends do. Well, Will and Grace is also great, but there’s a certain limit to how much of Jack and Karen I can take.

Who are my favorite Friends? Hands down, Monica and Chandler. After watching my first few episodes, I felt myself drawn to Monica. I could totally relate to her, and sometimes I can see myself in her character (charing!). I wasn’t fat in my younger days, but I felt I was fat “in essence” (if ever there’s such thing) or the proverbial fat girl. I had a lot of issues with myself and my body, and was desperate to fit in with my schoolmates. Monica followed Rachel around during high school partly because Rachel was popular. I didn’t follow anyone around, but I did place several semi-popular people on a pedestal.

Monica had an older brother that their parents seemed to favor, so she turned to food to fill her need for love. I have a younger sister much prettier than I am, and my parents sometimes expect too much from me, so I turned to books and pets for comfort.

Monica grew up to be a perfectionist and a neat-freak. I’m no neat-freak (you should see my room – it’s a total mess), but there’s a hint of a perfectionist in me. I could be too hard on myself sometimes, and I would hate myself for ages when I screw up a task or a project or whatever. I’d go almost berserk (honest!) if something isn’t going the way I planned it.

Monica would sometimes boss her friends around, but you know this is because she really loves them and thinks she knows what’s best for them. I could get bossy, too, and I’d like to think this is actually because I really care for the people around me.

And Monica is also one of the normal, average kind of woman when it comes to dating. She’s not ugly (hell, no!), but she’s not a bombshell either. Guys don’t just fall on her lap. She sometimes had to get the nerve to ask a guy out for a date, unlike Rachel who claims she’s never done that yet. (It’s weird because Courtney Cox, who played Monica, initially auditioned for the role of Rachel, and Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel, initially auditioned for the role of Monica.)

Chandler is such a witty, funny guy. I liked him even before he and Monica hooked up. He has the makings of a nut case because he had a dysfunctional childhood (his parents divorced because his father was gay and later became a transvestite) but he turned out to be a relatively normal person. I also like his sarcasm, his mannerisms, and the deadpan delivery of his punchlines.

I think Monica is lucky to have Chandler because she can feel totally secure with him. Chandler isn’t the type of guy who would cheat on his girlfriend/wife (as compared to the track record of Ross and Joey). And have I mentioned he’s such a witty, funny guy?

The best thing about this couple is that they decided to adopt instead of going through fertility treatments and artificial insemination. Sometimes, an infertile couple has to realize that maybe having a biological child isn’t for them, and that they would be more blessed if they welcome an unwanted/abandoned baby into their home. (Hmm… Phoebe was the surrogate mother for her brother’s triplets, Rachel got pregnant and Monica adopted. The writers covered pretty much everything. :D) Or, it was already the last season and they didn’t want any loose ends, so Monica and Chandler had to have kids as soon as possible. Fertility treatments take years to work and artificial insemination is for lesbian couples, so adoption was the only way to go.

I think I'm rambling already so I better stop here. Basta, I love Monica and Chandler, and I love Friends. I'm dreaming of having a Friends VCD/DVD collection and then holding a Friends marathon for a week. :D

*17* at *agen agen agen* daw... why do i feel weird about them (sila na nga ba? hindi pa daw ah...)? what do i feel exactly anyway? we fought over the same person, and i was the first to back out and discard her as basura. so i have absolutely no right to feel anything at all. but why did my heart give a little twist when i saw a new picture of them together? why am i feeling this twinge of... of... jealousy? hatred? bitterness? remorse? haughtiness? i don't know. and the fact that she's sooo pretty makes everything worse.

maybe i just don't want her to get hurt for the third time. but then again, that's the most pathetic excuse i've ever made.

harry potter part 2

I ran across this site featuring some similarities between LOTR and the Harry Potter series.

I hope LOTR fans won't take this badly or anything. I mean, LOTR is a classic, and HP is barely a decade old. But hey, these are really cool similarities. Coincidence? Hmm...

harry potter blues

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I feel so depressed. I know it’s crazy to be affected like this by a book, but I can’t help it. And the fact that I’ve been feeling shitty lately just makes everything worse. *sigh*

I actually bought the first two Harry Potter books a few weeks back so I could convince my younger sister to start reading so she could be as smart as her Ate. And I also wanted to “review” Harry’s earlier years in Hogwarts before reading the sixth book.

Reading Books 1 and 2 made me remember why I didn’t get hooked on the series at first. Rowling’s writing is too simple and almost devoid of figures of speech. She’s also becoming more partial to writing long and sometimes winding dialogues among her characters, especially between Harry and Dumbledore, when the latter explains to Harry certain things in the past, like why Voldemort (*gasp!*) tried to kill him as a baby. And her books had the feel of a children’s story or even a fairy tale because they had endings which are derivatives of “and they all lived happily ever after” (or at least the first three; Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix are kinda sad). Not that I don’t want happy endings, see. I just can’t help but feel that Harry has too much luck on his side – it’s too good to be true. And it does get boring after a while, when you think that Harry can get away with anything.

To her credit, though, I love the wit and humor in her books, her quirky and lovable characters, and the weird but believable names she makes up. And I’ve started to be engrossed in the story as the missing pieces from the Wizarding world’s past are revealed. She could be descriptive and vivid, too, although as I’ve mentioned earlier, figures of speech are rare.

It’s a pity they’ve already made the movie versions before the series was even finished. Instead of buying the books, people would rather rent the video. And the movies don’t, and can’t, exactly capture the magic and subtlety of books and of reading. I just wish they let the series “mature” like LOTR and Narnia. Of course, maybe Rowling wasn’t too confident that her books would stand the test of time like the two classics. Or maybe the producers (or whoever) were really determined to turn the Harry Potter books into movies whether Rowling likes it or not. So she figured she would be better off as a part of it so she could prevent any unnecessary mutilation of her babies. Oh well.

In any case, I can’t wait for the seventh, and I’m hoping the last, book in the series. And I wish somebody would give us Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet to complete our collection. After all, my birthday is a little more than a month away. To quote Angela, I’m joking, but if you’re serious so am I. *big toothy smile*

Email from Lorie (sent December 3, 2005):

yup, it's really lip and cheek tint. :)

it's the only tube that looks that way in the store. the salesladies said it's the only one that's packaged like that. :)

my only complaint is that the salesladies were hounding me to buy something. really annoying.

take care!

Can you believe that I actually asked her to go to The Body Shop’s store just to find out what the damn thing is? I was that desperate.

[By the way, thank you, Andie and Jazmine, for your help in my lip-tint-or-lip-and-cheek-tint predicament, even though I read it weeks after the wedding. Heehee.]

So now, Lorie (and Ronamy), you see why I’d rather ask my friends about cosmetic brands than to go to the stores. I hate dealing with salespeople. I believe we have two kinds of salespeople. The first one thinks that every person coming into their store has oodles of cash and itching to get rid of it, thus pestering the hapless customer to buy products she probably won’t need. The second thinks that every person coming into their store has no money and is merely looking around, thus regarding her as a nuisance and ignoring her completely.

Anyway, back to the tint. I didn’t wear it for the wedding. Tita used her powder blush on me because she doesn’t know how to apply liquid blush. But make-up was the least of my worries that night. I swear, it was almost a complete fiasco.

We went to the church earlier because Tita, Tito and Tatay were part of the entourage, and Nanay was assigned to offer one of the gifts. A few minutes before the wedding was to start, I looked down on my feet and saw the strap of my beautiful gold open-toed two-and-a-half-inch heeled slip-on had come off. I was mentally kicking myself for forgetting to bring an extra pair because we were in a hurry. My walk down the (side) aisle was embarrassing: I had to drag my right foot so as not to leave the broken shoe behind. Since Tatay or Tito couldn’t drive me home, I had to ride a tricycle (we still don’t have jeepneys or taxis in our beautiful town). And riding in the open air could wreak havoc to your eyes especially of you’re wearing contacts.

The next best thing to those gold slip-ons were my leather boots with two-and-a-half-inch heels and pointy toes. But my boots were black, so the light brown leather bag I was using wouldn’t do. I had to transfer all my stuff to my black bag. By the time I returned to the church, the wedding was halfway through already.

Then the reception. Oh. My. Goodness. I was to lead the opening prayer, but I was already stressed out from the shoe strap incident, wala ako sa kondisyon. I had been hoping that the venue would have a podium so I could hide my shaking hands from the crowd, but the host was just holding the mic. I was so nervous that even my voice was trembling. And I was talking so fast that the solemnity of the moment wasn’t realized and the beauty of the prayer wasn’t appreciated. What a total embarrassment. Good thing I didn’t stumble on the steps while going back to my table.

But I did learn a lot of things that night.

Lesson 1: Ever the cynical Pau, I wasn’t too enthusiastic about this wedding from the beginning. The couple was in their late 30s and they were from different (almost at the extremes, actually) social standings. And they don’t exactly make the picture perfect couple, if you get what I mean. I thought they were just desperate to get hitched before they hit menopause/andropause (?!). But hearing their (love) story changed all these. Love indeed transcends everything.

Lesson 2: The families of both the bride and groom were very religious, so their messages to the couple (and to the guests as well) were focused on God. The recurring advice was that God should always come first. That made me realize why my past relationships failed dismally. We were missing God.

Lesson 3: As one of the godfathers said, God always listens. He may not answer right away, but He will answer, nevertheless, in His own time.

Lesson 4: What I learned in Theology was affirmed, that love is a choice and not a feeling. It is an act of will rather than a surge of emotions.

Lesson 5: I need to think positive lest I get all wrinkly and prune-faced before my 40s. For example, while on my way home to change my footwear, I was cursing the whole world for my rotten luck. I mean, of all days to have a broken shoe, right? But then again, it was good luck that I saw it before the wedding started. It could’ve been worse if it came off during the reception, and I would have to walk all the way up front hopping on one foot (or even barefoot) for the prayer. So even if it was a bad night, it could’ve been worse, and I should be thankful for that.

so sorry i can't update pa. believe it or not, a bum like me could be busy, too. you know, looking for pictures of galaxies and asteroids in the internet for my sister, reading the latest harry potter book, rereading old reader's digests, taking care of my beloved cats and dogs, etc. house blessing pa dito bukas so i should be fixing my room to make it look presentable for the priest tomorrow instead of surfing the internet. nyargh.

and while i'm here, help me with this. i really don't get this comic strip.

hey graviton pips. i already uploaded pictures from our get together. check them out in http://mimingkuting.multiply.com/photos/album/13.

happy browsing!