Friday, September 27, 2013

Sharapova's tweet during the US Open women finals

It has been 3 weeks now since Serena Williams silenced Victoria Screamarenka during the 2013 US Open Finals.  It was such a monumentous win for Serena on so many levels.  Many WTA stars and important figures tweeted something about the finals.  All of the tweets I saw mentioned Serena and Vika at some form.  Many congratulated Serena on the win.  But not the case on the tweet of Maria Shriekapova.  This is her tweet:  "Watching the US Open finals.  So many memories.  Can't wait to be back there next year."  I may be reading too much into this but I can detect the thinly veiled jealousy Maria has for Vika and specially Serena.  All Maria can mention is a reference to her US Open win many years ago and a hint that she will be in the finals again.  No congratulations on Serena or praise for the great match.  Both players has very good record against Maria.  No wonder she would be jealous of them.  I feel Maria still thinks she is better than Vika or Serena.  She may think so but the record/stats does not agree.  Silly Maria...  She should just focus on her stupid candy and shut up in court.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

My own near encounter with an aswang.


Once at a party amongst filipino, we got to talk about filipino movies.  One movie that was mentioned was "Tiktik: the aswang chronicle".  So I watched it in youtube ASAP because I am fascinated by these filipino folklore.  In fact, it reminded me of my own near encounter with a tiktik/aswang/mananaggal.

When I was around 8 to 12 yo, we lived in the suburban area of Bacolod City.  The houses were not close to each other and in fact there were several empty lots around our block.  Across the street from our house was empty field.  We had two maids then.  One was an older lady and one was younger.  The older lady was a firm believer of the supernatural creatures in filipino folklore.  She in fact planted some vines around the house to ward off these unnatural creatures that prey on children/people.  One night I had a quarrel with my mother.  And my mom punished me by banishing me outside the house.  Our house was fully gated and fenced like a prison so there was no real danger that I get abducted or harmed by strangers/animals.   It was dark so I decided to sat under one corner of the house where there was a light as I cried.  About 5 or 10 minutes later, the two maids came rushing out to me and hurriedly ushered me inside the house.  There was fear in their eyes.  They acted like my life was in mortal danger.  So I asked them what was the matter.  The older maid told me that she heard a tiktik which could mean that an aswang or mananaggal was around.  They feared that I will fall victim to these creatures.  I personally was oblivious to hearing any tiktik.  There were several lizards and crickets making all sort of "tik tik" sound that I would not know the difference.  But the fear in our two maids were palpable that I did feel fear also at that time.  To these days, I can still remember that very night that I almost encountered a tiktik/aswang/manananggal.  The memory sends chill all over me.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Did I discriminate the H&R lady?

I recently went to an H&R Block to amend my 2011 taxes.  The first time I went to the H&R Block at Vanowen, I was met by two latinas.  One was older and another was younger.  I was telling them what I needed and somehow the older latina agent did not understand me completely.  Her reply was wrong.  It was obvious that she had rudimentary command of the English language.  I knew then that I would just be annoyed dealing with her when she can not fully understand what I wanted.  So I did my business with the younger latina (Luisa) who spoke better English.  The second time I went to the same H&R Block office, Luisa was not there and the other white woman was busy, so I was left with either waiting for another younger latina (Elizabeth) or working with the older latina who does not speak good English.  I decided to wait for Elizabeth cause I just did not want to deal with someone who can not speak good English specially if my taxes were involved.  I did not want any mistake on my Taxes because of language barrier.  It turned out that Elizabeth was completely fluent with both English and Spanish and it was a breeze working with her.  It was obvious to the older latina that I did not want to work with her.  I felt bad cause I did not want to appear racist in her eyes.  But the thing is, I don't think I was being a racist.  I just wanted to have dealings with someone I could communicate with properly.  At work I speak some Spanish and if a latino client decided to work with another who speak fluent Spanish, I would not be offended.  Or perhaps the reason why I felt a little guilty was because I was indeed discriminating another who can not speak good English?  If I am being honest, I think it did play some role...

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Bryan Brothers through the ages.

Love love love the Bryan Brothers.  This esurance advertisement is so amusing with the outfit depicting the different eras in tennis.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Is Facebook ready for my Atheistic views?

In Facebook, many of my friends often post about Jesus this and God that.  As an Atheist, I am frankly tired of seeing it.  I personally find those proclamations fictional and absurd.  For me, the Laws of Science is my god.  Not some made up deity by ancient men who did not have the benefit of logic and science to guide their belief system.  And just because many of those religion has been around for thousands of years does not make them the absolute truth.  It just means many people are still afraid to challenge that belief or many others are just plain ignorant.  So since I have to put up with those silly proclamations from my friends and family in Facebook, I wonder if they are ready to hear what I really think about those deities?  Are they going to be too offended by me proclaiming that I don't think there is a god or that Jesus was just a man and nothing more?  Perhaps I should test the water and make a post one of these days.

Friday, September 13, 2013

More vicious dogs of my neighborhood.

As I follow up the initial post on vicious dogs Janet and I encounter when we go for our walks, I like to point out that usually the small dogs are the more aggressive barker.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Vicious dogs of Sun Valley

Here are some videos I took to show that many dogs in my neighborhood are just vicious barkers.  From the small chihuahua to the big rottweiler, they all bark like crazy as we passes by.  Whether the barks are aggressive or something else, I can not tell.  So unlike in my Chicago neighborhood where dogs are trained to be friendly and many of them are walked.





Thursday, September 05, 2013

Model Josh Ohl

Super sexy and goodlooking model.