09:33: since i was about 13, i have wanted to learn kendo. i knew that there was a local kendo club, but i didn't know how to go about contacting them. i found their website once, four years ago. i sent them an email but they never replied. recently, my little bunny convinced me to run another search and i found a newer, better site. this time around, i got a reply. they only accept beginners twice a year, in january and july. beginners have to be at training every saturday. it's a 2-hour class, with an extra hour on the last saturday of every month for competition among the advanced students.

i went to last saturday's session to have a look. stretching and exercises are very similar to gumdo, so it's nothing i haven't done before. competition is like fencing, but not quite. i can't yet figure out how one scores, everything happens so fast. the class has an average of 25 beginning students, so you don't really get much attention and direct instruction until you go up against the advanced students towards the end of the class.

realistically, i can't do this. i will be giving up my saturdays for half a year! not that i party on saturdays, or anything. but i do work on weekends, mostly. and usually in the late afternoon or early evening, right when kendo training is scheduled. then again, the next show isn't until july. i'm on the waiting list for the january batch. training starts on the 8th. hmm. just wish i had someone to take lessons with.

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23:03: someone died today. someone i never worked with, but have seen (heard would be a better term, i think) in action. everyone in theatre knows her, or knows of her at the very least. she was a friend of my parents, too, i think. she was the topic of many, many jokes during rehearsals and breaks and random chitchat. now i feel guilty for having laughed at it all. and though i don't truly know her, i know what she has done for local theatre.

however else she did it, she left a dent on just about every good thespian you will see on the philippine stage today. i doubt that we will ever forget her. she will be missed. to some degree, anyway. :) and wherever she is now, i hope she has her old voice back. goodbye, z.a.

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01:36: everyone's a little bit racist, but c'mon!

many of my friends know that i am no big fan of english football. certainly, importing coaches and players from outside of the uk has improved the premiere league; you can see the change in arsenal and chelsea. but personally, i always thought english football was rather lame. the other european leagues are faster and more creative. spain holds a special spot in my heart, so you know who i would have cheered for at the england-spain friendly last thursday. good thing they didn't televise the game. i was appalled by the crowd's reactions. you can read about it here, or just read on.

i caught clips of the game and was horrified to hear the madrid crowd making monkey noises whenever england's black players handled the ball. some say that had the game been hosted at any other stadium, things would not have been the same. they say that fans at the bernabeu are the notorious "ultra sur". nuh-uh, i don't think that's all there is to it. i also saw clips of the national coach, aragones, shouting in spanish during training and telling his players to "not mind those black (bleep)." now, the spanish federation has apologized. but aragones refused to follow suit. instead, he made some comment about the brits being colonizers.

hijodeputa... like they aren't colonizers? like they didn't abuse my country's resources for four hundred years? like they didn't call us monkeys? like they didn't take some of our natives from the north and take them to their country to literally be put on display? fuck you, thank you for reminding me why i hate that i have spanish blood in me. don't feed me that crap! football na nga lang, may racism pa.

having said that, yes, i will still watch spanish football. are you kidding me? both real madrid and barcelona are in good form for el derby this weekend. i've been waiting for this game since i saw barcelona's line-up at the start of this season. way too good to miss!

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02:03: last night i dreamt that idina menzel was coming out in a suspense flick with tommy lee jones. where on earth did i get that idea?! but here is some news from the real world:

christopher columbus will be directing the rent movie. *cringe* i've known that for some time now, but i still don't like the idea. i just hope he doesn't bomb it.

just hours ago, the news was released that they signed rosario dawson to play mimi marquez. uhm... no comment. keeping an open mind here. i wonder why they didn't sign daphne rubin-vega?

no news yet on whether or not they're signing fredi walker for joanne and wilson jeramine heredia for angel. maybe they should get jai rodriguez to reprise his angel?? that ought to get the attention of fab 5 fans. besides, i wanna hear jai do contact. wehehehehe.

the rest of the original leads are in talks for the movie. yay, taye diggs and jesse l. martin! yummy eye (and ear) candy. and yeah, idina! woohoo!

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18:21: i am a fan girl.

i've been buffy-fied. given my recent interest in the old show and fueled by ix's dvd's, i decided to join pinoyslayers. they seem to be a very a nice bunch. i think these are the same people i kept running into when i'd go watch french films by myself. i think they also do 24, alias and smallville thons. my kind of folks. :) but until i find out all that happened between graduation day at sunnydale high and THE final battle, i won't be diving into the hellmouth just yet.

verve must be creating myspace accounts for their artists. or maybe it's not verve but for sure, someone is. and because i specifically mentioned names in my music profile, last week i got an add request from jamie cullum. whoa. last night, i got one from diana krall. holy crap! maloka daw ba ako? my two favorite jazz artists of this generation!

ahem.
...fan girl.

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