For the second straight month, the cover of GQ contains a former host of Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse club.
I woke up at 10am this morning. Outside, the Orcs were farting loudly and it began to rain dodos and hobbits. Ahh, the summer is finally over in Middle Earth.
Since it was too late for breakfast, too early for lunch, and I was definitely not going to go outside to get soaked, I stayed in bed and read September's GQ, yesterday's newspaper, and last week's Economist.
Killing time when you are a bum is very difficult. Fortunately, someone from my high school, ( itago nalang natin sya sa pangalang Dion Fernandez), wrote on his blog that Google Earth now had high resolution images of Baguio.
Timewaster goldmine!
It's really spooky being able to look at satellite images of the places from your childhood and Baguio being a very very small town I could identify every landmark, every fishball/kikiam and banana-q stand, and the rooftops of my mates' houses. The images are not really high resolution since they're for civilian use and you can't pick out the car plate numbers but it was jolly good fun pretending I was some despotic ruler indulging in state sponsored acts of espionage, invasion of privacy, and voyeurism.
That Pink Circle was the famous Boys' High school where I had four memorable years. (Alternatively called Hi Boys School if you were from the third sex. And unlike that bigoted Justice Isagani Cruz, we enlightened straight folks coexisted well with those from the pink brigade.) It was the last exclusive Boys' school in Baguio. Incidentally, I rose up from the pits to become Features Editor of the school paper and Dion was on my team. I however, like all trailblazing visionary mavericks, was unceremoniously eased out. I wanted full colour centerfolds of pretty girls from the Montessoris, advice on how to grow weed and roll the perfect joint, the best places to shoplift, how to nick the mugs from Mr. Donut, how to get into concerts for free, how to reuse a condom etc..etc...Survival tips no teenager could do without. The ultraconservative celibate sisters of the moonlight said no and without full creative control, I had to leave rather than lose my integrity. (I'm referring of course to the other Editors, and not the Principal who I got along quite well despite my three suspensions.) As you can see, Boys' High occupied a very central post code in Baguio unlike those tarts from Girls' High whose campus straddled a dingy bowling alley and two funeral parlours. Besides, the girls from UB Sci and City High were way prettier and were more open to experimentation. (Girls' High students were always stoned with cheap cannabis and didn't do the reverse cowgirl position.)
The Green Circle points to the Otto Hahn building, where I did 5 years of engineering. I don't know if it has been refurbished but it was really dark and depressing. It was no way to treat the designers of the future. If the Dogs of Flanders don't want to refurbish it, I suggest President GMA's helicopter be crashed into it (with GMA in the chopper and no one else in the building of course.) Engineers, and Nobel Prize Winner Otto Hahn, deserve a better building.
That Blue dot is the intersection where I, normally running late, try to catch those Trancoville or Aurora Hill jeepneys, with pre-war engines, driven by maniacal drivers.
This is Loakan. The Red arrow points to Texas Instruments, where I did two years of time. Integrated circuit chips for Nokia cellphones,among many other applications, are still assembled and tested here. After two years, I came out a certified Powerpoint Engineer, with a great disdain for clueless middle managers, and with a vow never to work in a cube farm ever again. It was a moderately paying job (P30k/mo and some stock options and bonuses back when Erap was president, enough to spend on worthless stuff which one tends to do with their first paychecks after being so dirt poor in college) and I worked with lots of great people but the unnecessarily long hours meant the work-life balance was not to my liking. The Blue arrow is Moog which makes precision controls for aviation and aerospace (Boeing, Lockheed, Airbus). That long strip is Loakan airport. The green arrow points to my childhood friend's house. You need to cross the tarmac to get to his place and many rabid mongrels actually sleep on the warm tarmac. You don't see that too often in other airports.
Thankfully, just 50 miles or so from Baguio is the South China Sea. This is a picture of San Juan and those fantastic waves suitable for surfing. On the rare ocassions that I got my weekends off from work, I'd come here to try to learn how to surf or use it as a base for long hikes across the La Union-Benguet border with an Aussie friend. Eventually, I learned that one of my high school mates was really into surfing and he founded the Baguio Boardriders Club. The waves here can be freakishly excellent. I should know, I've nearly drowned twice because of the strong undercurrents. As I write this, I know my friends are enjoying riding the waves and getting stoked. The beaches are getting overcrowded though with 'poseurs' who are kitted head to toe with surfer brands but do no surfing at all. As for poor me in landlocked Middle Earth, I haven't surfed for three years!
In other news.......
OMG! Hailstones as large as pingpong balls have destroyed 80% of the Genovese basils! The pesto famine is upon us!
Lesbian Xena is now a planet, Ceres between Mars and Jupiter was also recognised as an important big ass rock, and Charon circling around Pluto won't go away like a fly hovering above an unwashed butt. Enumeration quizzes in primary school science are now worth 12 points! Unless the teacher goes berserk and asks the students to identify every crater on the dark side of the moon instead.
I wanna be a fashionable rock star but I ain't gonna expose my boobs in this manner......
Even hardened audiophiles will wet their pants with glee when they get their hands on this fantastic teeny-weeny amplifier. Look how many holes you can make sweet sounding surround stereo love to!
