rest in peace, francis m (1964-2009)

(photo from francis magalona's facebook fan page)

a sad thing happened today -- rapper francis magalona passed on around noon. he was 44 (b. Oct. 4, 1964). he came out with the news that he had been diagnosed with leukemia in august 2008.

about half a year later, he's dead.

it's one of those really surreal moments. first there was an email from a co-worker asking for confirmation. apparently, the news first broke on noontime show Eat Bulaga. i'd never seen that show that muted, as if a heavy cloud was upon everyone.

but then, revisiting the announcement on primetime news, i couldn't help tearing up myself.

mr magalona, a pillar in the philippine music scene, left behind not only his wife and their 8 children, but legions of fans as well. i heard he was even slated to perform a special number in the Eraserheads concert tomorrow night. the fact that he won't make it leaves this indescribable gap. and i'm not even the biggest music fan, to begin with.

francis m's death strikes a chord too near the heart - he and my mother died of the same disease. in an interview with a doctor aired over primetime news, the doctor said francis m suffered from a rare, fatal kind of leukemia. the same news outlined the symptoms of the disease, and suggested that adults over 40 have regular checkups and blood tests. my mother wasn't even 40 when she died - she was 38.

the doctor's explanation in layman's terms, of how the red blood cells and the bone marrow and all that fit into the perfect picture of a life-threatening condition, somewhat sounded familiar. i never really got to the nitty-gritty of my mother's death; i had resigned myself to the fact that i was not one made for these kinds of truths. but perhaps, one day, i will understand, too.

one day, i'll be ready.

and onto the bright side of life, so to speak

i should mention somewhere that my sister and her team won the debate. it was about this guy who was under supervised release and he was questioning the constitutionality of this act that apparently allows for the collection of blood sample/dna from convicts like him. he argued that it was in violation of his rights under the fourth amendment of the US Constitution safeguarding the rights of persons against warrantless seizures and searches. my sister was on the techinically losing side - she was arguing for the constitutionality of the thing and i think that guy has won in some court by a slim margin of 6-5. as it is, the case is still under review, i guess.

plus she was going against this guy whom we shall not name -- and now that i have refused to name him, i'm guessing some of you already have an idea as to who he is. hehehe. anyway, you should've seen how nervous she was because she's really convinced that 1) they would lose and 2) she would suck in comparison to this guy, who was the lawyer for the other side.

anyway she bribed me with pizza on sunday, and i dropped by her place to help her draft her opening and closing speech since she was supposed to deliver it on monday.

guess what. she demolished him. bwahahhahahahaa. her prof said her closing speech was good and gave the debate to their side. PWNAGE! anyway, if you know my sister, you'd know how she's usually a nervous public speaker, so GUJAB KRISTA! \o\ /o/ \o/ ...

eh yung not once, but twice?

oo inaamin ko. i watched this movie twice and i loved it.

the first time was saturday night, with officemates, caught the last full show at greenbelt 3. the crowd was insane -- thank god for top row seats, we actually got to watch the cinema get filled. we realized everyone in the cinema lobby was there to catch the last full show of the same movie all along. hahaha. sige magpasimple lang kayo.

watched a second time using compli tickets at glorietta 4 last night with the girlfriend. free seating pa ang 8pm showing, so it meant na the cinema was literally bursting at the seams, with people standing at the back, sitting on the aisles, that sort.

and for more - me palakpakan involved. me nagtitilian every time lumalabas si johnlloyd. me nagsasabay-sabay na nagrereact ng "awwww" pag kilig moment. at tumatawa nang parang isang malaking tao ang buong sinehan right when you expect it, parang canned laughter lang, only tunay na tao. amazing. and i loved it. hahaha. jologs na kung jologs, e sa panalo talaga yung me mga nagsa-side comment pa nang malakas sarap tapunan ng cell phone na nagriring ng "bebe ko" eh. hahaha. pakshet. the movie was just the right amount of annoying, it was endearing. plus me mensaheng mahalaga, to be fair. swak na swak at kontemporaryo hahaha teka hindi ito movie review.

anyway. ako lang ba ang nagsusuggest na sana me movie kung san magkapatid si rowell santiago at dominic ochoa. kasi i swear magkamukha sila.

*

on other news, it's time to take out the oversized pants. dear body, this is not to say na it's okay to be this huge. it means this has got to stop, and that wearing these pants to the beach is not acceptable. ktnxbye.

a portrait

found this in one of my sister's more recent photo albums. last month a couple of months ago, we marked my mother's birth anniversary. she would've been 50. i'm not sure who took this photo, but this is by far the most final photo i've ever seen of my mother's tombstone. sorry i wasn't there mom. you know how it is. of course, you do.

*

anyway it feels like ages since i last wrote wrote something. i still attribute it to the lack of nicotine. jesus, a year hence and still that part of my brain is still not working on its own. kinda scary, if you think about it. what exactly have i done to myself. tsk.

so yeah, a couple of nights ago i finished something that had been sitting in my hard drive for the last six months. that night, the ending came to me, and i was like, Of course, how else could it have ended? indeed. how else.

opening summer up

this morning i went to my sister's place to help her with her debate speech. i left my apartment around noontime; the sun was high and i loved it. finally, reason to wear shades, though it only made me miss my perfect eyesight all the more.

summer is perhaps my favorite season, though i have to say it edged out the christmas-birthday-new year season by only a couple of points. though i love the chilly morning wind in early january/late december , nothing beats the summer wind, that gust of cool air in the middle of a sunny day - love it love it.

(see, i am feeling better.)

and as per tradition, i'm coming out with a summer-y layout - i asked krista if she still kept photos of our massive 2005 vacation -- this was the summer before work, right after graduation (that was the year krista graduated from high school and i graduated from college) and we visited relatives in the visayas, jumping from cebu to bohol to leyte in april and driving from manila to iloilo then boracay then guimaras in may. i actually had a tan come graduation. wow. come to think of it, that was already four years ago, and this year we're having two more graduations and wow. i am so getting old. heh.

i took that picture in the header when we were in panglao. i remember that was the first time i actually rode a plane all by myself. humabol lang kasi ako kaya sa cebu na kami nagkita. wala pa nga akong tulog nun dahil galing ako sa induction ng UJP. haha. buti hindi ako nalaglag sa eroplano. anyway.

btw this summer i'm swearing off surfing. seriously.