I think I’m on the phase that they called “writers block”. But since I’m not a really a writer, I will just call this, the-hell-do-I-care phase.

So yes, it’s quarter to late and I’m still wide-awake. No amount of Glee can put me to sleep. In fact it even worsen the situation. Now, not only am I sleepless, I keep humming the songs they’re singing too … sweet Caroline!

I was told to count sheep when I can’t sleep but it didn’t really work for me in the past. By the time I reached 30, I kinda lost interest on counting that my mind just drifted away and started relating the numbers to anything and everything.  It’s really funny when that happens because you’re not aware that it’s happening until you’re very far along with it.

I could really use a good book right now but the book I’ve ordered hasn’t arrived yet. Which reminds me, I should email that seller, it’s already been 3 days since I paid for that book.

Had I gotten myself a PlayStation 3, I wouldn’t have to sweat situations like this. I could just play my sleeplessness all night.  Imagine how many zombies I could have killed by now.

Anyway, I decided to turn on my laptop and try writing whatever springs to my mind. And surprise, surprise! Nada! Zilch! Nothing! My head just won’t give me anything to write about.

And now I have to get up and pee. Crap!

The only reason I finished watching the match was the fact that I’ve already stayed up so late so might as well finished watching the whole thing. I was really disappointed and annoyed by Clottey aka punching bag.

That guy must have a secret ambition to enter show business that he has to protect his baby face from getting bruised all the time.

I think Clottey didn’t get the bigger picture here. It’s not just about winning; it’s also about how you win it. Even if by some sort of luck he managed to knock down Manny and won, the win would still not be that amazing. He’s playing it so safe to the point that I got bored and frustrated. Even his trainer specifically told him to throw some punches and take a chance as they are losing round after round. But no, no, he didn’t want to listen which really irritated me. To be honest, I would have had so much more respect for him as a fighter had he’d been knocked down putting up a good fight. Now, not only did he lost the fight but he will be remembered as the one that Manny beaten like a punching bag.

What he did is just so annoying. He was just there standing and covering his face all through out the fight and waiting for that moment when he could get Manny down. Unfortunately for him, that moment didn’t come.

I’ve been doing a little bit of boxing in the gym in the past few weeks and I realise how hard that sport is. It’s really hard that I feel like dying after a 45-minute session. That’s why I can somehow imagine how hard it is being on that boxing ring. But dude, if you are paid millions to be on that ring and you agree to do it, at least have the courtesy of giving the audience the value of their money. When you’re on that ring, your focus shouldn’t just be on yourself but more importantly the audience. Think of the meals that they have to skip to save money to buy a ticket or to pay for the pay-per-view. Okay I’m a bit exaggerating here but my point is, the fight wasn’t worth the money at all, thanks to that punching bag Clottey!

That brings me to my main point. Manny isn’t just a legendary fighter, he’s a great entertainer too. And by that I don’t mean him going to all those US late night shows doing karaoke. What I mean is, did you see him do the signature FPJ move? That was really brilliant and funny. Did you notice him putting down his defence just to get Clottey to throw punches at him? Had he not done that, it would look like it was just Manny beating a punching bag. No reaction whatsoever!

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not belittling Clottey. I’m sure he’s a good boxer and he’s probably a nice guy as well but he’s not a good entertainer. And for the kind of sport where the audience has to pay to watch the match, he’s got to up his game a notch or two.

Finally, congratulations to Manny for yet another win. He’s got all my praises and respect that I could forgive him running for election this May.

Just don’t let him win, please.

I’ve finally let go of my God not so long ago. It was one of the most sensible decisions I’ve made in my life so far, and since then I’ve never looked back.

Being a Christian for more than two decades, embracing atheism didn’t come that easy. For quite some time, I have to go through the process of defending my religious dogmas against the facts. I have to deny what is blindingly obvious for the sake of “not rocking the boat” and for the sake of convenience. I have to put down all the revolutionary scientific findings in favour of all those bronze-age mythologies. And at some point, I even have to make excuses for my God when something in the Bible or even in the world doesn’t make any sense.

Then one day, I finally got the courage to face the truth as it is and decided to grow up and let go of that invisible God that I created in my mind since I was young. I was pretty adamant at first because letting go of my God would mean becoming an atheist, and an atheist label doesn’t sound too appealing to a lot of people including myself that time.

But as I found out later, atheism, just like any other things, is only scary when we don’t know anything about it but if we take a closer look it isn’t as scary as the society leads us to believe.

The question I often get from people when I told them I’m an atheist is “what happen?” especially if they knew me before. Because I am a kind of guy who is really passionate about anything that I get myself involve with. So back then, I was extremely zealous about teaching “Christian values” to others that sometimes my friends would even seek for my spiritual advice. I think it’s fair to say that I was a hard-core Christian before. So I can understand how my being an atheist somehow shocked some people.

Well, here’s what happen. I decided to read the Bible – the entire Bible. And I decided to read Christianity and other religions history from various sources and not just from the washed out versions that we normally get from our Christian administered schools. I decided to read a bit deeper about ancient mythology and civilizations. And I decided to read about what science has to say about the claims of religion.

And the funny thing is, I did not decide to do all those stuff so I will end up as an atheist.  It was actually doing quite the opposite. I was initially doing my sort of research to disprove those atheists who were questioning my beliefs. And so I decided to educate myself with my religion, and I started by reading the Bible. And boy was I surprised!

As it turned out, the Bible is a self-incriminating book. If you read the entire Bible, the number of things that you wouldn’t have known had you not done your reading will blow your mind. You wouldn’t even believe that those things are there. That’s why I always encourage people to read their Bible entirely. Read it with an open mind and read it in proper context so you will understand the craziness of some of the stories. I’m sure at the end, you would also want to read other materials to either defend what you’ve discovered or support them. I’m not saying that there aren’t anything good written in the Bible what I’m saying is there are some crazy things in there that if it’s really “the word of god” and not plagiarised from some other civilizations mythology, those stuff shouldn’t be there.

Do I hate religion? No, not at all.  But I do have issues with it. I believe that indoctrinating children when they are very young grabs them some of their human rights. I believe that religion in a way paralyzes human mind by encouraging faith-based beliefs and discouraging skeptical thinking. I believe religion creates division and alienate people. I believe religion makes the not-so-smart-but-good-people do atrocious things. I believe that religion is the driving reason for most of the problems that we have today.

But whilst I’m no longer a fan of religion, it would be wrong to say that it hasn’t brought anything good to humankind. I’m from a third world country and have experienced poverty myself. I can tell you that when you have no food to put on the table, when you have no money to buy medicines, when you barely have a roof to put over your head and when everything else fails or is falling apart, religion comes handy. It serves as an antidote to pain, it supplies “miracles” in desperate times, it provides explanation of the unknown and it gives people hope to keep going no matter what.  That’s why it’s no surprise that most of the third world countries are very religious.

But putting all things into consideration, I still would say that the world would be a better place without religion.  However, I still respect those religious people in the same way that I expect them to respect my belief or disbelief. I think being religious or being atheist is a very personal matter and just like any other things personal, we all have our different take on it. The important thing is we respect each other’s differences and we don’t push our beliefs down on each others throats.

On the issue of morality, I would say that this is the biggest misconception about atheists. I always hear people saying that if they don’t have God with them they probably would be doing all sort of crazy things. But I tell you this, there are so many people who are atheists in these world yet you do not hear or read about them in the news doing all sort of crazy stuff. Those people (most of them Christians I’m afraid) propagating this kind of misconception is describing not the atheists but themselves. They are afraid that everyone is like them, that when nobody is watching they screw things around. Just because atheists don’t believe in God doesn’t mean that we no longer have the sense of right or wrong. I think that atheists’ morality is even deeper than those of religious people. When atheists do good things we do it because they are good and not because we expect some heavenly rewards or something. People can do good or bad things with or without God.

Based on our collective experiences as a society, we decide what is moral and what is not. This then provides as the basis of the society’s moral guide. Morality is not something static, but rather it is something that is continually evolving. That’s why the God of the New Testament appears better than the God of the Old Testament because society’s morality since Abraham’s time evolved and have gotten better.

Another question that I often get from people is that “who dragged you into this?” That’s the thing about some people; they find it hard to grasp the idea that someone could deviate from the norm by himself without somebody dragging him into it. I could safely say that nobody dragged me to atheism. And to be honest I have yet to meet any atheist up to today. It would be interesting to meet some like-minded people in the future.

I know somebody who has seriously questioned her faith after reading the Bible and doing some research but she can’t leave her religion as she has invested so much of her time on it. And she likes the feeling of community and fellowship that her church provides plus she  doesn’t want to be an outcast in the society that she is in. And so up until today she continues to kneel and chant to that invisible guy up there. A price she’s willing to pay just to be “in”.

I may not see it in my lifetime, but I dream of a world where reason prevails over emotions, where everyone is doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do and not because a sky daddy is watching over them. I dream of a world where human rights transcend religious bigotry; where diversity of opinions are celebrated and not frowned upon; and where people value each others lives knowing that there’s no other life after death.

I may not see it in my lifetime, but I dream of a religion-free society.

Not so long ago, I also used to subscribe to the idea that Christmas is when a virgin woman (impregnated by a ghost-god) gave birth to man-god.

Now that I’m way past those beliefs, I still somehow celebrate Christmas for several reasons.

One would be that my family and most of my friends celebrate Christmas big time. So not joining them in their festivities would just be rude and arrogant, especially because I used to join them in the past. Plus I don’t get a present if I don’t take part (LOL!). But seriously, I don’t see anything bad about this holiday. People believe what they want to believe. Even before Christmas was invented, ancient people used to celebrate all sorts of things in December, like Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, Julmond Festival, Sol Invictus and what have you. So for as long as they don’t force their beliefs down my throat, I don’t think I would have any problem celebrating Christmas with them.

Another reason is that in our world today, Christmas is actually more secular than religious. So divorced has Christmas become from religion that you can actually celebrate it without necessarily believing on its religious origin. In fact, I may even go all out and say that the only religious aspect left out of Christmas is only its name. Apart from that, it’s all utter commercialism and secularism.

I also like Christmas season because it’s one of those times in the year when you could get pissed almost everyday and nobody would raise an eyebrow. Plus I love the colourful decorations and the dancing lights. They somehow radiate some kind of positive energies.

Curious about what my friends thought about Christmas and what does it mean to them, I messaged them few days ago. And interestingly enough, among those who replied, only two of them mentioned that Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus Christ. The rest, just like me, think that Christmas is all about family, children, friends and humanity in general.

For me, Christmas is all about nurturing all those relationships that we have in our life. It’s all about spending time with those you love and those who love you, be it in a traditional or in an alternative way. Like in my case, being always away from home, on Christmas, I always let my family know how grateful I am for having them in my life.  Sometimes I send them Hallmark cards, sometimes I buy them the things they’ve been wishing to have, and sometimes I visit them in our province without prior notice to somehow surprise them.

I also consider December, being the last month and being the last holiday of the year, as the perfect time to show my appreciation, one way or another, to all my friends who stick around and put up with all my childishness all year-round.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that looking at how things are going these days, Christmas is no longer just a religious celebration. People nowadays have different views of celebrating it without necessarily relating it to any holy books. And I think that’s what makes Christmas worth celebrating.

On another note, I’ve found two decent Christmas adverts from both sides of the Atlantic. Which do you think is better?

How they manage to count the English words is beside the point, my point here is that there are so many words in the English language now more than ever yet I always find myself using the same familiar words most of the times. Although, I’m well aware that it could just be the result of my limited vocabulary as English is not really my first language,  what fascinates me is that even my friends whose first language is English also has the same problem.

Here are my top 5 most overused words.

1. Sorry?

This is often used when you ask somebody to repeat what they’ve just said as you didn’t get it the first time. There are so many words of this kind, like pardon me?, say again?, what’s that?, hay?, etc. But I, more often than not, use the word “sorry?”

As I’m so used to the American accent, being in Europe seems very challenging for me, especially in my early months. I managed to cope with it eventually but still I’m struggling sometimes. That’s why when I’m having a conversation with someone with a thick accent, the word “sorry?” comes in handy. And believe you me, there hasn’t been a day in the office when I haven’t used this word.

2. Umm

My college professor in public speaking would probably cringe when she hears me now using the “Umm” word again and again.

“Umm” is use to fill in those spaces in between your sentences when you are still groping for the next words to say.

I was told that the use of “Umm” is the result of your mouth going faster than your brain. Think of it like a supply and consumption thing. Whilst your brain is supplying your mouth with words in the fastest way it can, your mouth on the other hand is consuming the words even faster. Hence, somewhere down the line a gap is created. And what do we do in between those gaps? Yeah, we use the word “Umm”. Apparently, the easy remedy for this is to speak slowly, which, I just couldn’t get myself to do.

3. Like

I don’t know where I get this word but I think I just kinda picked this up from the way people around me talk. This word is often used unnecessarily in a sentence. I normally use this word when I am telling a story. Check out the story below.

Like last night, I was like walking in town and there was like this group of drunkards who were like shouting at each other. So I was like a bit terrified to walk past near them.

You see, I could use the word “like” so many times, unnecessarily without even realising it. That’s how I normally tell a story to my friends and surprisingly, they too.

4. Stuff

This word is a generic name for everything. As such it could be use in so many ways and it has so many different meanings. Sometimes you use “stuff” when you are referring to something but you don’t wanna be very specific, like in the sentence, “I need to do some stuff tonight.”

I guess the magic of this word is that you can twist it in whatever way you prefer and it would still means something.

5. You know

Just like “Umm”, this phrase is use when you are still groping for the right words to use or when you run out of words and you want to fill that void in your sentence. So instead of saying the word, you end up saying “you know” which I think is a short form of “you know what I mean”.

So those are my top 5 most overused words. Care to share yours?

I remembered having a dream the other night that Cotto knocked Manny down. I remembered jumping off my bed checking my laptop to see if my dream was true, only to realise that the fight wasn’t on until today.

As I said, the match really captivated me in so many ways. It showcased not just the boxing as a sport but also the stories and emotions of the people surrounding it. It was like watching a series of life stories unfolding within those 12 rounds.

For starter, the fighters didn’t indulge into words bashing before the fight, which I admired. In one of their interviews, both boxers said they don’t hate each other and they even like each other. That for me is truly remarkable given the kind of sports we are talking here. But what is truly remarkable is that neither Manny nor Cotto played any dirty tactics during the fight. It was a clean fight all throughout. I may even go farther to say that Manny even gave Cotto a time to catch up his breath during the last few remaining rounds.  That’s a sign of a true sportsman right there.

The man who abandoned Manny’s family when he was still young, a.k.a. his father, was present during the match. It was like watching the story of the Prodigal Son. Only in this instance, it was the father who fell on the wayside and after realising that he’ll be better off with the family he left, decided to swallow all his pride and returned home. Although, I’m not just sure if there was a lavish party thrown on his homecoming like the son in the Prodigal Son story, but hey, he’s a father, he should have known better.

When Manny started to beat the crap out of Cotto, the camera didn’t fail to capture the horror on Mrs. Cotto’s face. At first she tried to shout out something, probably to let out whatever it was that was building up inside her chest. Then she tried to look elsewhere to somehow relax her senses from what’s going on in the boxing ring. Then when she can no longer took it; she walked out together with her son sparing them both of the horrible scenes that followed.

I think it was on the 10^th round when Cotto’s dad suggested stopping the fight, as he was worried about his son’s welfare, but he was talked out of it by the members of Cotto’s team. But prior to that, he actually went to the ringside during the break to check on his son. His son kissed him assuring that he was all right. Those were classic father and son moments.

Manny dominated the fight right to the end. And I think it was Manny’s best fight I’ve ever seen so far. He was just so into it and uhm those power punches were just so unreal. Cotto must have thought he was fighting a ghost, as he can’t see where all those punches were coming from.

Manny is the man. Forget that he tried to enter into politics, forget that he recorded an album, and, forget that he can’t clearly express himself in English language, because those were just very minute things compare to the plethora of pride he’s given to his country and to his countrymen. He’s not just a boxer; he’s a fighter, at the very core of his being.

The Pacquiao vs Cotto fight wasn’t just great, it wasn’t even just awesome; it was legendary! And for a guy like me who isn’t really into sports, I could have just watched the match and then moved on. But the fact that I wrote this blog, that says a lot. This fight is surely one of those things that I will be telling my children (huh!) in the future.

And by the way, how did you find La Diva’s rendition of the National Anthem? I’m pretty sure you have a comment or two.

But, as they said, you need not be a boxer to appreciate boxing, especially if you’re (always) on the winning side .

Just like every Filipino, I am a fan of Manny. His rags to riches story is truly inspiring. His power punches help unite the entire nation once again and all his fights help ease traffic congestion in various cities all over the country. But this article isn’t about the technical aspect of his incoming fight with Miguel Cotto. I will leave that to those more capable of discussing it. This article is about the other entertaining aspect of the boxing fight – the singing of the national anthem.

During the pre-Manny era, the singing of the national anthem wasn’t that a big deal. Anybody can sing it; most of them weren’t even popular stars. But I think because we are so obsessed about this American Idol thing, things have started to change.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but right after every fight of Manny, there will always be somebody who’ll appear on TV commenting on how the national anthem was inappropriately sang. And the worst part is, almost every one agrees and even had an extra comment.  It’s like every fight of Manny is a chance for all of us to play a Simon Cowell. We are just as excited to find out how well the singer sang the national anthem as we are excited to find out in what round will Manny’s opponent be knocked down.

So this coming 14^th of November 2009 as Manny faces Miguel Cotto, La Diva will also face the verdict of the nation.

Good luck to all of you. You nö! (know).

I like the sensation that the crisp cold autumn wind brings. It never fails to invigorate my senses after a long day at work. I like how the trees magically change their leaves into different beautiful colors and how they slowly fall as I walk by. I also like the smell of dried leaves and the crunching sound they produce when I step on them.

Autumn also reminds me of my “insignificant other” (as we used to call each other) and the good times we shared together.

But more importantly, autumn is the time when almost all the restaurants are offering great set menus for just a tenner. Well, that is if you’re living where I am

So by the end of autumn, I should be able to pick the best restaurant in town.

For the meantime, I will try to think how to spend these longer nights and shorter daylights productively, alone this time. Any suggestions?

I’m sure at some point in the past we’ve complained about not having enough time to do some stuff in our life. Now, we will finally get an extra hour just for this day. The question is, what are you gonna do with it?

Should you spend it sleeping? Going to the gym? Watching a movie? Chatting with some friends? Working? It’s all entirely up to you. But remember, the next time you complain about not having enough time, remember what you did when you were given one.

As for me, I will probably spend it with my insignificant other . After all, this happens only once a year.

Adding an extra ray in the sun of our national flag is actually very useful, especially with what our country is going on now. Let me cite the reasons they gave me.

It will help boost our economy. Imagine how many flags would become obsolete when they fully implemented this change. All the flags in all the schools and government offices both here and abroad would have to be changed. Not only that, all the souvenir items with the national flag on it, like mugs, bags, fans, pins, etc, would have to be reprinted if not totally disposed. And for those like me, who’s got a shirt with a national flag on it, we would have to buy a new one or risk being obsolete. In short, this will help, in the very least,  our textile manufacturing and printing businesses thereby helping our dying economy.

It will enhance our artistic and geometric abilities. Since according to the latest research, our artistic and geometric abilities as a nation have been dramatically declining, the politicians are optimistic that the introduction of the nine-rayed-sun-flag would help us back in track. Because let’s face it, how easy is it to put all those nine rays in equal proportion around the sun? Yeah, I thought so.

It will help keep the rain away. With all the recent flooding all over the country, the politicians are fervently hoping that adding an extra ray to the sun in our flag would appease the sun god and would send those typhoons away so we won’t have to endure another flooding.

And since the politicians are well aware that the meaning of the rays of the sun in the flag is now a bit odd (eight provinces and Muslim heroes), they are now proposing to change the meaning of the first eight rays to make it consistent. The proposal is now to incorporate all other religions in the country to the flag to make it fair to all concerns. But as there are so many Christian denominations and they don’t want be taken as one, the plan is to let the people vote for the denominations they want to be included in flag this coming 2010 national election.

According to the latest statistics, the leading contenders are the Roman Catholic Church, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jesus Christ The Name Above Every Name, Baptist Church, Foursquare Gospel Church, Methodist Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and The Seventh Day Adventist Church.

This will make the 2010 national election all the more exciting. Don’t you think?