Carol of the Bells

Hark, how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, throw cares away...

Throw cares away?? I just can't, not especially this very Christmas. So many things to finish. The thesis simulation application is not even half-finished. And considering that I'm doing the half of our group's thesis, I have just finished almost one-fourth of the entire thesis. I just hope that my other two groupmates are doing well.

And then there's still the schoolpaper layout, which I can't finish because of the lack of resources (articles, pictures, other important instructions), the Filipino-lifestyle-themed photography assignment for Humanities 101, and a freakin' PowerPoint presentation for Internet Technologies class. WAAAAA!!! Merry Christmas indeed!

Well, at least I'm enjoying programming the most important of them all, which is obviously the thesis, Chemical Bonding Tutorial and Simulation. As I've mentioned, I'm doing almost half of the system, which is the Simulation. I love OpenGL and my newfound programming language Visual Basic, designed for user-interface-oriented and lazy programmers like me. I just have to make sure that I'll not be too spoiled by VB.

What the hell am I still doing here?? I should be opening the VB workspace and work my ass off.

By the way, the following is my new favorite Christmas song, Thrice's revival of the "Carol of the Bells." It sounds mysterious and dark, which I like. Ironic for a Christmas song, huh? The video version I've found in YouTube shows Full Metal Alchemist clips. I like both the anime and the song, but they seem weird when they are together. There's not even something Christmasy in the video clips, except for the snow...

The Very Christmas to Me

:( Ateneo Fiesta Week will be officially over by the end of this day. I have to refill my academic vehicle's tank with academic fuel so I can drive it, bringing this academic burden without dropping it lest I fail to reach the finish line that is graduation. *sigh* But hey, it was the start of December just yesterday! It's the month of Christmas! We have actually decorated just last week.

But honestly, I have not been excited and eager for this coming Christmas and also for the other Christmases during the past few years. Even though I've been receiving some gifts during this season, it doesn't feel like the Christmases in my childhood. I can still remember those times nearing December when I constantly ask my mother if it was Christmas season already. I just couldn't wait then to bring out the Christmas tree and all the other ornaments from their 10-month storage above the bedroom closet and release them throughout the house so that the spirit of the Holidays would manifest. But the college Christmases were... blaahh... Perhaps it's because there are no forced Christmas parties anymore, with manito-manita. Yes, they may be forced, but a classic Christmas party is one thing that makes me feel it's really Christmas. Kris Kringles were exciting 'coz you get to collect clues for who picked your name, and you also get to think creatively such that your mark is concealed in your gifts.

*sigh* Those childhood and high school Christmases were quite different from the past few Decembers, which were also the times when our old Christmas decorations were deteriorating, actually. We were not supposed to decorate for Christmas this year because we realized that we don't invite Holiday visitors anymore anyway. So who else would marvel at the decorations but us? However, my sister in the States sent us money and insisted us to spend it on new decorations. So there we go - a new Christmas tree around six feet tall, and some Christmas balls and other ornaments to hang around it and around the house. We also recycled a few old decorations that still look decent. But... they didn't revive the Christmas spirit. Hmmm... maybe the decorations cannot find the spirit's remains anywhere in the house.

Therefore, I would just have to look for and revive it myself, and attempt to feel each Christmas as the "very first Christmas to me." Reminds me of the hilarious 'Christmas Who?' episode of Spongebob Squarepants. I like the musical number in it, which fortunately is available in YouTube and is embedded below.

I wonder at what exact age I discovered the very first Christmas to me. I hope I wasn't as overenthusiastic and naive as Spongebob was during his.

It's shaping up to be a wonderful holiday,
Not your normal, average everyday.
Sounds like someone killed my old coral tree.
Spongebob, Patrick, why'd you do this to me?
The world feels like it's in loverly.
Go away before I harm you bodily.
This Christmas feels like the very first Christmas to me.
There'll be shopping, decorating, and plenty of snow.
Hey, Patrick, who's that under the mistletoe?
What? Who, me? Would you look at the time, I should go!
People seem a little more brotherly.
Here's a little something to you from me.
Even all the trash on Christmas it smells so sweetly.
This Christmas feels like the very first Christmas to me.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la (x many times)
What do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy?
Step outside, we've got something for you to see.
Spongebob, take this stuff down immediately!
Chestnuts roasting and burned to the third degree.
Tonight things are as good as they seem to be.
A star on top will complete all the scenery.
This Christmas feels like the very first Christmas to me
This Christmas feels like the very first Christmas to me 

The False Prophet

False prophets are sent by Satan to mislead people; to derail them from the path of righteousness where God calls them to constantly walk on. Well, Mr. Horned One will not be happy with my first job as a false prophet.

“All I say is thanks to the God…” said Manny stupidly when he was interviewed after winning his third match with the humbled Erik Morales, “Erik is big to me…” Get an interpreter or an English tutor, imbecile!

One of the Filipino commentators during a television coverage of their fight remarked that it was “a proud moment to be a Filipino.” Yes it was a proud moment for me too. But there is just a little pride in that ‘coz I find that same moment to be embarrassing too - more embarrassing actually. Imagine the Para sa ‘yo song was played for the entire coliseum to hear while Manny was approaching the ring. Sin verguenza! Erik Morales must’ve been giggling while he was listening to that. I remember El Terible commenting in an interview with Diane Castillejo that Manny’s singing was terible [as in Spanish for ‘terrible’]. Erik even mimicked Manny’s singing voice and it was hilarious! Erik sounded like a ghost saying “Ooooohooohoh,” or an old dog howling with a low tone after being hit by a baseball bat. It is really terrible… and terrifying… and embarrassing, at least for some people like me. Some Filipinos are Pacman-fanatic, considering Manny as a great singer. I have cotton buds at home for cleaning your ears, mga bingengat kayo! I remember Manny in a show being interviewed about his then upcoming concert. He joked, saying something like, “Baka mawawalan na ng audience ang ibang banda [Other bands may lose their audience].” The nerve of him, telling that joke! It wasn’t even a joke. A joke has a grain of truth in it. That wasn't a joke - it's an absolute lie! It’s blasphemy! A sacrilege of Truth! Crucify him!

But it’s too late. He won the fight. More will be deafened, corrupted by his crappy singing. And his new mansion will have a recording studio! This will be the shrine where he will inject subliminal messages in his songs – subliminal messages saying “Manny is f**king gorgeous! Manny is the greatest singer. He’s even greater than Sarah Geronimo. Let’s demand that he will sing the national anthem himself in all his coming matches. He is the greatest! Oh Manny, f**k me! Give me a bastard child like what you did to your mistress!”

In conclusion, Manny, I would like to thank you for winning this fight. You make me proud. *a trembling smile forms on my face*

Idle Hands Are a Devil's Workshop

I noticed that lately I have been slutty - I mean SLOTH-y with everything, from my academic life to even the mundane activities, like blogging. At last, now I have finally picked the enthusiasm up for posting another set of musings, for now. But still, I feel my hands are idle. Hmmm... But where's the Devil? I don't see him anywhere in my hands... Oh my God! Maybe I am the Devil! *LOL*

OK, I have to update about the thesis proposal. My last post about this was like ancient! BlueVoice is a great concept, yes. But guess what happened? I apostatized it and transferred to another where I think I can work better. Surprise! Right after that conversion, I did not even bother to blog about it. I mean, it's like a significant, not to mention risky, decision in my unstable university life. I guess I was lazy to blog then. The change was not about what was the better, safer thesis. It's all about where I can work better and with more enthusiasm. The second semester of my hopefully last year in college, which means the hopefully very last semester in college, has finally started just last week. I and my new groupmates should be working on programming the application. But so far, as far as I know, we are in the process of hunting down the three proposal panelists for their coveted signatures for approval. I did hear from one of my groupmates that she's learning Flash. I should be learning that too along with Visual Basic and OpenGL for backup.

So much to do but I am still not motivated. Get out of my hands, Devil!

Joke Time!!!

More text jokes that I have to delete from my cellphone inbox but I choose to remember here. Note: Text words are converted to their proper spelling.

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From Joval
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You're the perfect person that I know.

So sweet, so nice, so kind

Always on my mind

And very special for me

But there's something wrong...


Wrong send ako! hehehe :)
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From Grace
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MRS: Musta po asawa ko?

DOC: Sorry ma'am! Mula ngayon, ikaw na magpapakain
& magpapaligo sa kanya kasi putol na kamay at paa
niya!

MRS: Di nga?

DOC: Hehe, joke lang! Patay na siya! :)

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Heto ako iniisip ka.
Nakatunganga, nakahilata,
Mag-isa,
Nananalangin,
Humihingi ng himala
Na sana nandito ka..

Dami ng hugasin!
Tambak labahan!
Gulo ng house!

YAYA! I miss you na..:)

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Kung nag Gay Language sana sila GMA at Garci, eh di
walang scam!

GMA: Hallow Gracia!

Garci: Plangush mother! Na chenilyn de kimberlyn ko na
po yong mga chuva ek ek!

GMA: Bonggacious! Eh yung mga chenes chenes, carry na ba?

Garci: Winnie santos mama, wiz na worry eclavou na ever!
Na chorva na!

GMA: Ang tarush! Malditah ka talaga. Eh di windra na
naman watashi!?

Garci: Anufi Ate...

GMA: Oshah babush na... Rarampa pa ang lola! :)

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Isang lasing may nakitang madre..
Biglang sinuntok, tinadyakan at binalibag!

Bugbog-sarado ang madre..

Tapos tumawa yung lasing at sinabi..

"Wala ka palang binatbat,
BATMAN!!"

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Man and wife were out on an African safari when suddenly
a lion sprang out of nowhere and dragged the wife with its
jaws.

WIFE: Shoot! Shoot!

HUSBAND: I can't! Wala na akong FILM!

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From Kat
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"Danbe fuld badaraks datay gat..
Emstel, emstel, jinepram dablak..."

Ulit-ulitin mo lang.. Magegets mo din yan.

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One day, a sadist, a masochist, a murderer, a necrophile,
a zoophile and a pyromaniac were talking in a psycho ward.

SADIST: I'm bored, why don't we torture a cat?

ZOOPHILE: Yeah, We'll torture it and then f**k it!

MURDERER: We'll torture it, f**k it and then kill it!

NECROPHILE: We'll torture it, f**k it, kill it and f**k it again!

PYROMANIAC: Yeah, then we'll burn the cat!

(sudden silence)

Then everybody asked the masochist,
"Hey, why didn't you say anything?"

MASOCHIST: Meow! (",)

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Erap in school...

Teacher: Who knows what minimize is?

Erap: I do ma'am!

Teacher: OK, use it in a sentence.

Erap: Minimize is the girlfriend of Mickeymize.

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(Accordingly) a poem nominated for the best poem of '05,
written by an African kid.

When I born, I black.
When I grow up, I black.
When I go in the sun, I black.
When I scared, I black.
When I sick, I black.
And when I die, I still black.

And you White fellas,
When you born, you PINK.
When you grow up, you WHITE.
When you go in the sun, you RED.
When you cold, you BLUE.
When you scared, you YELLOW.
When you sick, you GREEN.
And when you die, you GRAY..

And you calling me COLORED?

- the kid has a point!

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Entertaining God

submitted on 09/25/06 as reflection paper for the religious-philosophical movie Dogma
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“There’s a million questions I wish I could ask, most all questioning what I'm sure is your great plan, and that would be really arrogant of me, I know. But there is one I'd like to ask, and I'm sure you get it all the time. But how many opportunities like this will I get?” Bethany inhaled deeply and then exhaled, preparing to hear the ultimate answer from someone infallible. “Why are we here?” The childlike woman stared at her for a while. Then she leaned forward and poked Bethany’s nose. The woman, who happened to be the latest embodiment of God, smiled at her and walked away. “Didn’t I tell you She was funny?” Metatron, a Seraph and the Voice of God, told Bethany matter-of-factly.

That was an excerpt from the ending scene of the film Dogma. I thought the scene was just amusing, and a little confusing, while I was watching it for the first time. However, it struck me just when I realized what it really meant during a class discussion. Although the film does not explicitly state it, it seems to imply that God created all of existence because of His sense of humor.

Dogma does not just exemplify God’s omnipotence and omniscience, but also His unlikely but very probable purpose of human existence. God is omnipotent that He can transform into one of us here on Earth. The problem is that He has to lose His omnipotence and omniscience to be human. Being human means being mortal, vulnerable to physical pain and death. His embodiment’s death can release Him from mortality to His original and true state. However, He may be trapped in His temporary body during a comatose, as exemplified in the movie. In this case, as human, He would be influenced by time. That then would give anyone the chance to prove the infallible God wrong, thereby reversing Him and all dependent existence to nothingness. But after some reflection, I learned that it may never happen. Remember that God is all-knowing. Although He lost His omniscience as a human, He still had it before He became one. Before turning human and thus losing His omniscience and omnipotence, He must have used it to ‘see’ if everything would be fine while he would be embodied. In Dogma for example, before becoming the human ‘John Doe,’ God knew that He, as human, would be beaten up and fall into comatose. But He also knew that He would eventually be saved by Bethany, the Last Scion. Thus, knowing this, He confidently allowed Himself to be human.

Now the bottom line question is: why did He have to create us? Wouldn’t it be the same if God decided to exist without us? God does not need the free man for truly responding love or for entertainment simply because He is perfect. He can never feel unloved or bored. He does not need anything else to sustain Him. So why do we need to exist? Perhaps there’s something wrong with the question. Maybe God did not need to create us – He wanted to create us.

God knows He does not need to create anything. If he was only serious, He should have not created us, thinking that, “I don’t need them anyway. It would be useless.” But He cannot be limited to being serious and boring. Since He is perfect, He must also have a sense of humor. And perhaps, as a result of being funny and playful, He created us – as His toys. As a perfect being, God cannot be entertained because he cannot be bored in the first place. Then He must have decided to be man so that He may experience human boredom and thus be truly amused when He frolics down here on Earth. It’s just like God built a small Legoland and shrunk Himself in it so He can enjoy playing with it more.

“Why are we here?” Perhaps we are here to entertain God, not because he needs amusement but he wants it. And since He is omnipotent, He gets what He wants. Now wouldn’t it affect my faith knowing that I exist as one of God’s playthings? Probably not. If we are God’s playthings, God would be like a child who would love and protect his toys. Thus, we are safe as God’s toys. If it did affect my faith, it added more amazement rather than fear in the funny God.

I must sharpen my sense of humor some more. I’d like to really amuse God in case I meet His embodiment one day. And I’d let Him poke my nose as many times as He would like.

In Defense of the Divine Architecture

submitted 09/25/06 as Reaction Paper for Philo 104: Philosophy of Religion
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The teleological argument, as Ernest Nagel wrote in The Case for Atheism, “is based on what purports to be empirical evidence,” which makes it different in character from the cosmological and ontological arguments. From the intricate natural systems we see around us and even ­in us, the argument from design claims that the complex existence must’ve been created by a divine architect, not by random chance. The argument is popularly compared with the case of a found watch, whose finder assumes that the watch with its elaborate mechanism was made by someone intelligent and much less likely by arbitrariness.

Ernest Nagel criticized the teleological argument with two counterarguments. The first one asserts that the idea ‘watch is to watchmaker; world is to world maker’ is a faulty analogy. Accordingly, the watch is not similar to the “innumerable animate and inanimate systems with which we are familiar.” Furthermore, the way the parents ‘make’ their offspring is not the same with how the watchmaker makes a watch. The author’s second counterargument claims to altogether crush the teleological argument because the rival hypothesis, the Darwinian Theory, is a “better supported assumption.” It “explains the diversity of biological species in terms of chance variations in the structure of organisms, and of a mechanism of selection which retains those variant forms that possess some advantages for survival.”

As a ‘follower’ of the teleological argument, I am relieved that I still haven’t encountered a very good and striking criticism to it even after reading Nagel’s article. It is now my turn to lay down my counterarguments for each of his counterarguments.

First, the watch and watchmaker may not be exactly the same with the world and world maker. However, they are proportionally similar. Yes, the overwhelmingly intricate universe is very much greater than even all the watches there are. It is because the world maker or intelligent designer is also very much greater than any watchmaker. This world maker must even be the greatest since He made the universe. It even supports the nature of the Creator. Although we can comprehend certain mechanisms of existence, such as our bodily functions, we cannot grasp the universe as a whole. It is unfathomable and mysterious, and so is its architect and maker. On the issue on the dissimilarity between parents making babies and watchmakers making watches, I don’t even know why mating came up in his arguments. The teleological argument compares the watchmaker with the world maker, not a baby maker. Moreover, in that analogy, the method of creation is not the concern; it is the purpose or cause of the creation. It suggests that the watch’s existence is only possible with a purposing will, and so is the universe’s existence. How it is created is not that essential.

Second, the Theory of Evolution only explains the existence of animate systems. How about the inanimate systems? How is the system of seasons or the organized planetary movements possible? Did they also adapt to the “mechanisms of selection?” No, because only living creatures can adapt. Besides, these inanimate systems are the mechanisms of selection. The system of seasons, for instance, forces the bears to hibernate during winter and the ants to gather and store as much food as they can during summer. Those that cannot cope would have to perish. It seems that nature has its laws. But since nature is inanimate, it cannot decree on its own. Only something similar to a purposing mind can explain the inanimate structures in existence. The Darwinian Theory is still plausible. But it must be integrated with the teleological argument to support it thoroughly. Perhaps the one who not only created but also governs the universe ‘designed’ the inanimate systems from where the animate systems were adapted and formed. And since Darwin cannot determine the source of all evolving organisms, the teleological argument patches the leak by offering the idea that only a divine architect and creator can create the very first organism from where all evolution sprang from.

According to the Prophet Jan Carlo

I have, again, been oblivious with my blog. I have to post something now. So here it is - a prophecy:
Ye, Filipinos, shall despair. Thy self-proclaimed, not to mention grotesquely ugly, hero shall fall before one of the Mexicans he has been assassinating. He then shall lose his commercial endorsements, singing contract (which he doesn’t deserve!), bragging rights, and, thank God, his fantasies of being a drop-dead gorgeous guy, which is the opposite of what he really is!

Oh Fate! Please don’t let me be a false prophet. I want all this torment to end. Just recently, I heard from the news that Morales is sure that he will win his third match with Manny Pacquiao. He did sound like the arrogant bastard that he is. But I do hope he has palabra de honor. I have this feeling that Manny will lose this time. I can’t wait to witness the chain of consequences after his defeat.

I don’t want to see him in ice cream (”O mga bata, mirinda na!”) and fast food commercials (“Papara-Pacquiao!”) ‘coz it curbs my appetite!

I don’t want to hear another “Ixtrem Magec Seng” song from him ‘coz it forces me to waste time in changing channels until that commercial ends.

I don’t want to see him working out shirtless with his sons in another vinegar commercial ‘coz it’s simply disgusting (and corny)!

I don’t want to see his wife endorsing ointments just ‘coz she’s Manny’s woman!

And I don’t want to see him trying so hard to speak in fluent English to impress people in press conferences ‘coz it insults me as a Filipino! If he finds English hard, why can’t he be just like Erik Morales who speaks in his own language in front of the international public with an interpreter?