happy november y'all.

for starters, it was a bum sem break for me because i DIDN'T really get to accomplish anything. i've decided to rehash an old essay of mine for a contest i'm not too keen on, forgot Gawad Ustetika altogether, and is only scratching up on the third one because i'm gutsy . i have not finished any book i've wanted to get over this break -- except John Grisham's "The Chamber" which consumed the last two days picking up on the 450 pages left (out of 676), because i've put off reading too many times. dull, right? i've surrendered myself to watching tennis matches on tv, the only new hobby i've picked up, and forgot all movement in the process. i am a total slob. last friday, i've watched five matches all in all, one of the Federer-Henman AIG Japan Open Championship Finals last October, and the other four the 3rd round of the BNP Paribas Masters in France. gah, i've never been so hooked on this. i must be a strung-up lunatic! ^^,

the break would've been so wasted and unsatisfying if not for the lovely reunion i've had with my long-lost (!) SJ buddies last saturday. it was definitely the highlight on this side of town. it was my first time to spend an all-out gimmick with friends (and heck, there were 10 of us! =D). we all went to SM Mall of Asia. paulo & bern were celebrating their respective birthdays the following week (*this week, actually - happy b'day!*) and so they gathered us up and treated us for a roarin' day out. we had pizza & pasta yumyum for lunch... i finally got to catch up with everyone's lives, how they were doing, and everything was all fine and dandy. i had an interesting chat with ozy (i appreciated it, thanks), shimmied like mad with peach (MB rocks your socks -- groupie love!), and wondered at how much krystelle aka soup girl had become 'demure' since we last met (like duh, she isn't! hahaha xp). the dynamic duo, bern and shuri, were as lovable as ever. it was sentimental to think that even if the company i've kept since high school had matured and had all gone to some 'higher calling' now (lol), if you bunch us up together we'd still be the hooligans of yesteryears. ;)

the food reveille ended, and next came the afternoon action. the majority wanted to go to the arcade, and so we all rag-tagged over to Timezone. frankly i've never stepped on an arcade for more than a decade, and didn't really have the desire to play... but of course i don't want to be a pain in the butt. so i watched shuri & bern & tiff doing their thang on Drum Mania & Guitar Freaks (shuri was cut out for this stuff ^^,), peach & pau hamming it up on the Dancepad, and soupgirl & ozy strutting their stuff on Dance Crazy (?) w/ hand sensors. they were really great. i reluctantly tried on the guitar (with shuri's assistance), and managed horribly to get the sequences right with the Dance things that peach was pushing me to have a spin. i must say i have two mangled hands and a pair of left feet, and i vow never to shame myself again *lol*.

but there's something unexpected for me. among the kiddie stuff and the showman dancefloors was a Virtual Tennis play station! i hadn't noticed such a thing until an hour later. it intrigued me that someone could 'play' tennis on it, and it featured characters like you would on the real court -- Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Davydenko, et al and they looked, hmmm, human-like. the thing you'll ever need was a control gear to shift your player in different directions, and 2 buttons -- one for the serve and another for the defensive shots. so i got the better of my curiosity and played it twice. i played Fed on both occasions -- it was smashing baby! ^^;;; just on my first try, i won the first tournament (out of 5), defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero 2-1! (i eventually lost to Tommy Haas. ugh.) ... the second was not so lucky, however. the opponent was our favorite nemesis banaNadal who beat Rog after a deuce. guess i didn't give justice to Fed, huh? it was exhilarating though, and i'd surely like to play more had i the chance. (thanks so much to bern & peach for being gracious about this! *kisses*)

i agree, i've found my own niche in the arcade. ^^, .. but then time has been too harsh and quick that we had to part ways. saturday was something that kept me hopeful for the next time i'll see cherished friends again. :)

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but for more pressing matters, i'm off to Boot Camp (that is school) for the 2nd semester. i wonder if i'll return to waking up at exactly 5AM everyday, when for almost a month i'd rise at 7AM+. this time, we'll be having NSTP on sundays already, leaving me no actual rest day. my MWF sked is such a backbreaker (Eco, BA, Acct all at the same day?! give 'em hell!). and rumor has it we'll be having Calculus ~ just when my math falls as my first period! *h. dies and goes to heaven* .. in spite of all the fire & brimstone, i'm really hoping i could work it out this sem. God knows i need the grades i could muster.

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sensational sports advisory: the Tennis Masters Cup will be held on Shanghai, China on November 12-19. it's the awaited season-ending tournament, featuring the top 8 players. (because i don't want to picspam here, the photolink which i've tenderly created is right here). click on the official site for the contenders and everything in between. i'm so excited... go Rog! ^^,

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