there's an old saying that goes, "third time's a charm." that's exactly what befits the movie the fast and the furious: tokyo drift. 'twas so good that i went and saw it twice. yup, twice. last time i saw a movie twice in its run was independence day. i mean, the hell with the lake house (though my mom and my younger sister went and watched it the same day i saw tokyo drift for the second time with my younger brother), i could always wait for the dvd release of that movie. in my opinion, this is the film that touched the real essence of street racing. unlike the first two movies wherein the lead character (paul who?) is entangled with authorities, thus destroying the entire concept of street racing. in tokyo drift, no police whatsoever so whatever conflict there is, is settled with a mano-o-mano race. plain and simple. just the way i liked it. well, aside from the fact that the girl in the movie is oh so 100% hot!! like, a steaming hottie with a smile that can get me into my car and race it like hell!! =)

hmmmm….

two good movies coming out this week. the lake house opens today (to my surprise) and the fast and the furious: tokyo drift opens tomorrow. now you might wonder, tokyo drift is a no-brainer for a guy like me, but the lake house? i admit, i'm not an easy sucker for date or love story movies, but when i saw the trailer for this one, i immediately said to myself, "this is worth watching." i felt that same feeling before with sweet november a couple of years ago (which became my all-time favorite love story movie of all time) and i also thought that it was a sleeper hit. never mind that both movies starred keanu reeves, there's something in the lake house that stirred my interest.

now, the questions are, "which will i go see first?" and more importantly, "will i see 'the lake house' with someone?" answers? the first, well, whatever i feel seeing tomorrow or on saturday, since it's my day off. the second? well, most likely, i'll go see it alone as always.

unless anyone wants to come join me…

coming out of a 9-day hiatus from work, there were some things i realized, other things i became pensive about, and some more things i left lying around, prone to future time-consuming, brain-cell draining revisits, like bad karma on a penniless monday morning. no, wait, like re-hashed filipino soap operas with really bad acting not worthy of this person's time or attention, or filipino "superhero" telenovelas with stories copied from such big hits like "smallville" or something similar. yuck. well, summing it up, i came with two things:

one – never, ever take a 9-day vacation from work with half-baked plans of going out of town. what was supposed to be my first trip to puerto galera ended up washed away to sea like a message in a bottle. a couple of days before the said trip, with monetary expenses already budgeted and kept aside, one after another, the persons going on the trip backed out with reasons some that were acceptable, some that will prompt me to say, "why don't you just say that you can't come in the first place instead of 'i'll go, but i'm not sure'?" but laid back as i am, i shrugged it aside and i was given the idea of going to tagaytay instead. sure, i'm game. so i took it upon myself to co-organize the trip with a dear friend and invited members from a mailing list that i'm a part of and posted the details. the trip was supposed to happen last friday morning for i already have work on saturday night (technically dawn of sunday). the plan was to leave at 9am and have lunch there, enjoy the sights and go back in the afternoon. the reactions i got were from "i'd love to but i can't," to "why is it on a friday?" to "i will go only if these certain people come too…" now that last reply nearly, and i mean nearly, blew my top. why the heck are you setting conditions for you joining the trip? does that mean when you do join, you're not going to have any fun if those people don't tag along? if you want to join the trip, then just come along for christ's sakes!! eventually, that trip too was scrapped, yet to be rescheduled and hopefully, i won't be able to read anything of that sort anymore. now you may ask, what did i do during those 9 days? had my system full of alcohol specifically saturday last week, memorial day monday, thursday, and this past friday. looking at the brighter side though, i did save the money supposed to be for those out of town trips. yipee.

two – every bad ending to a love story is a sure-fire sequel to another love story with a similar, if not worse ending. case in point, in my experience (if you would call that a love story). the lisa chapter ended hanging (back-read if you want to 2003-2004) which resulted in the same with donna (2004-2005). i guess i'll just leave it at that. do i deserve an explanation why she did what happened? given the circumstances, i think i deserve to be a little selfish and answer with a resounding yes. yet, only time will tell, so here's to another open book ending. kept in a table, waiting for the time to be closed, no matter how long and to be put on the shelf for memory's sake. does this mean that i'm over donna? honestly, i don't know and i cannot say when a definite answer will come. all i know is that i loved a person when i thought i never could do such anymore.

on a late comment, i'd just like to thank armorchink for his/her comments on my entry about the movie "the da vinci code." yes, i do see your point of view, and i understand that completely. what just strikes me more is that with the catholic church, in all its power, be threatened by a mere movie? as what tom hanks said towards the end of the film, "what matters is what you believe in." i am a catholic, was raised a catholic, yet after watching the movie, none of my beliefs changed. i didn't question my parish priest, or any catholic priest for that matter. yes, it did pose some interesting and insightful thoughts on what the real deal is with christianity. but again, what matters is what i believe in. catholics/christians who suddenly turn and question their faith after seeing the film are not good catholics/christians to begin with. for me, the movie is just pure entertainment.

and finally, speaking of movies, the weekly chain of watching movies was broken this past week. after seeing "x-men: the last stand" (and i tell you, it's a darn good movie, worthy of a dvd wait) no good movies came out this past week. at least "cars" is coming up later in the week. but i still can't wait for "superman returns." the trailers are killing me with excitement!!

and another mental note: "whatever doesn't kill you, will just hurt you even more."

i would just like to take time to ask all of you who regularly read my blog to pray for the son of a fellow blogger and dear friend.

my friend/brother brew has a son, six years of age, who will be undergoing a series of tests to help rule out what seems to be a intercranial (brain) tumor/lesion. imagine a six year old kid having to go through that… i couldn't even dare to imagine. so please, pray or include in your prayers joshua eli baritugo, his health and that he be ok.

please spread the word to other bloggers as well. he needs all the spiritual help he can get. for more, please visit http://www.trailerparkjesus.tk. thank you very much.

"better late than never" as they say, so i just want to thank the people who went out of their way to greet me on my birthday on the 24th:

* cher – as always, the first person to greet me. keep the streak going next year! thanks too for the greeting-testimonial =)

* team montego – my team comprised of mela, chappy, anton, walter, rais, jere, chris, mark, and cielo. thanks for your contributions and keep up the good work! =)

* my brother patrick, my sister lei, and my mom – thanks for being supportive in everything i do

* my cousins aileen (thanks for the gift), malen, ryan, debbie and my cousins-in-law arnel, almen and rowell

* mags – thanks for the greeting, hope you lessen your complaints about life's unfairness and just accept whatever comes to ya. =)

* reggie – bro, thanks for being there always

* brew – the only person who took time to call me on my mobile just to greet me. thanks bro, wish we could have another starbucks ranting session soon

* janie – lister-mother dearie. miss hanging out with ya!!

* rx-talk mailing listers rizza, ann mundo and aileen – though we rarely spend time with each other, much less talking to one another, thanks for always remembering my birthday. aileen, thanks for the testimonial =)

* to my colleagues at the office during the time i was assigned at recruitment: red, cecille and rj – don't worry, we'll be going out again soon!! =)

* to my new friends maan and farids – thanks for your simple, yet heartfelt greetings. =)

again, thank you, thank you, thank you. entering another decade isn't easy, let alone easy to accept! hehehehe….but with friends like you, i guess it's not so bad after all. be blessed always.