Blogfiction:Endless Summer Romance-Chapter 1 "The beginning of the end"

Bruce was sitting on his office desk when his cellphone sang to the tune of that wondergirls tune. It was his current message alert tone. The message read: "2loy b tyo l8r?" Without looking at the keypad, his fingers typed at an amazing speed: "yup. cnt w8 2 c u" As instantaneous as the bundy stroke 5:00 o' clock, Bruce punched out. Short of running, he rushed towards the elevator.

He drove towards the direction of Ayala avenue--eastbound. The Makati traffic made him swore like a whore who haven't been paid. After what seemed like an eternity to him, he finally reached his destinaton. He parked his Kaiser Silver S2000 at the basement of a strange building, and typed on his Finnish cellular: "d2 n me. wer n u?" No more than a few seconds have passed since he hit the send button and the wondergirls started singing again. "pnta ka sa lobby. c u @ starbucks."

Like a part of a crew of profesional robbers, Bruce followed the fresh instructions to the letter, and ordered an orange juice from the coffee shop. He text(ed) again: "d2 n me strbcks" He then started sippinng his OJ with what seemed like a bit of fury. He was becoming anxious with anticipation. When the hunderd-peso juice was done, there's still no reply, so he created another message: "wer u n?" Bruce flashed a cigarette and transferred to one of the seats outside and smoked. Nobody, nobody but you... a reply read: "I was on my way down but I frgot 1 of my thngs so i had 2 go back. w8 lang wil b der in 5 mins" He replied: "sure, no prob" He lit another stick as a timer and changed his message alert tone to a simpler beep-beep. He noticed that the Starbucks people were looking at him with contempt after they have heard part of the Korean hit twice in five minutes. He set it up initially as a joke for his staff, but he found out that the same grew old too quick. Then he whipped out a sachet of hand sanitizer to lessen if not eradicate the smell of nicotine and tar from his hands. He popped a couple of Smints in his mouth and resumed waiting.

Beep-beep. "i'm here" Bruce turned around and found what he was looking for. Trouble-that should be her name.

/end of part 1.

Part 2- Earth Angel.

The Nature of God and Things That I Don't Do Anymore

I haven't seen God for a while now. Maybe he's real busy. Perhaps He's doing His work somewhere. Who knows where God goes? Who knows what God thinks? That's perhaps the reason why He is who He is. A man could read all the books written throughout history and wouldn't still have an inkling about the nature of God. God is unfathomable by the intellect of man. His existence cannot be proven nor disproven. He is who He is. I believe in Him because last time I saw Him, He practically told me to be absolutely loyal to my lovely wife--over a couple of San Mig Premiums. Premiums. I used to love that beer when it first came out, but it got old fast. Now I'm back to plain old Pale Pilsen. Super Dry if there's any, just not Light. I can't stand the latter's wateriness. If there's one thing I know about God, it's that He loves beer. For God so loved the world, He created barley.

Lately, apart from drinking the occasional brew, I have been doing "normal" things. Shit like work, fixing my old car, watching movies on the DVD, playing GT on the PSP, surfing the internet, etc., et-fuckin-cetera. It's been years since I've been in a band, and the strings on my vintage Ibanez (A Japan made, first edition, 22-fret RG350) would probably break due to rust if I try and play it now. I miss playing "rock" shows, the loud music, the friends, and all the other things that go with it. I just hate getting broke over some gig. Show me a musician who got rich through his music and I'll show you a sellout who doesn't like half of what he's playing. I want to be rich, so I put down my guitar. As my trusty old six-string rests on the top of my old bunk bed, so does my AR15 fully automatic airsoft rifle.

I picked up airsoft after the dog game in the Philippines got filled with posers and become real dangerous for "decent" people. A few used-to-be dogmen started playing the airsoft game in the early 2000's. I was really heavy on airsoft back when Chinese airsoft rifles were useless pieces of shit. These days, I have heard, airsoft guns from China are at par, or at least quite near, with the quality of top airsoft maker Tokyo Marui. I tried to buy all of the military gear that goes with it, researched all of the crap about it, played it for about two (2) years and got sick of it. Its nothing but a bunch of uniformed guys, most of them between their 20's and 40's weilding fuckin' metal and plastic guns that fires 6mm round pellets below 600FPS (feet per second). Besides, the sonofabitch hurts. My younger brother is still at it to this day and perhaps will still play airsoft until the day he dies. A very good friend of mine, my best man in our wedding is also hooked on this stuff. In fact, he's closer to my little brother now than he is to me. They see each other every saturday when they shoot the crap out of their opponents with tiny plastic bullets.

Lastly, I don't dream anymore. All my sleep are filled with darkness. The moment I sleep to the moment I wake is like a blink of an eye. I remember I used to dream that I am a microscopic Superman flying about two (2) inches from the ground fighting grasshoppers, bugs, beetles, and my archenemy, the neighbors cat. I used to dream that same dream when I was really young. I also used to dream about an angel, seeing me from time to time, doing all sorts of shit with me. She was a real thing of beauty. But in my dream I did some things that made us fall apart. That's perhaps I was a little too afraid of the light she brought with her. The last time I dreamt about her was last year, I think. Prior to this revelation, I have never told anyone about her. If she's real, she'll understand that I only did those things because I didn't know better. To this day, however, I can't forget a particular nightmare I had when I was about twenty (20). I dreamt of a few circles close to each other. Like the circles made by a bunch cold glasses of water place closed togehter. That nightmare gave me the creeps which defied all logic. I woke up crying to my parents and like a true yellow motherfuker, I yelped "yung mga bilog...hu-hu-hu-hu" Putangna, I knew I hated math and geometry but that was too much. Perhaps I was afraid of the goddam circles because maybe they weren't really circles. Now I realize that they were zeroes. I was afraid of zeroes. No need to worry now because I don't dream anymore.

Thank God for the blackness.

Bulacandia

If you ask someone, anyone, who does not hail from this province, where my (and coincidentally M.H. and Gregorio del Pilar's), hometown is located and they will probably draw a blank in their heads. It's actually shameful. Bulacan, Bulacan is a Municipality in Bulacan province with a population of over 60,000, etc., etc....(just click this wiki link).

The Dirty Rat Race

Some assh*le, whose name I can't (refuse) to remember said on air that it is Noy-noy's (Aquino, son of the late great senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino--he's the four-eyed dude with his fist on his chin in the P500.00 bill for you, dumb kids--and the late former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino) "destiny" to become president of this nation of ours. Apart from Johnnny Knoxville's classic ideas, that's about the stupidest sh*t I've heard in a long while. That goes "up there" (in the hall of fame of stupid ideas) together with Johnny Ponce Enrile's "Scrap the Energy Royalty Tax" crap, the proposed new tax on text messaging, and the latest issuance by the Ombudsman to prohibit (in the guise of regulation) the access of anyone to the SALN (Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) of government officials. In the words of Dave Mustaine (MegadetH founder and frontman extraordinaire), Destiny, oh, that wicked schemer!

Noy-noy, as he's already a senator (Yey mom!), IMHO had already reached the pinnacle, no, the apex, of his political adventure. I mean, Noy-noy? What the F*cking hell? If you make a list of senate underachievers, he's most likely to top the list just behind senator Lito-lito and whatshisface "Panday" wannabe. (FPJ's death must be partly caused by the remake of the classic by a pa-cute over-age dumbass like this son of Nardong Putik). To make things simple, Ninoy is Ninoy, Cory is Cory, and Noy-noy is f*cking Noy-noy. He's just that--f*cking Noy-noy. He's Kristeta's still-to-come-out-but-perhaps-never-will gay only brother. I always imagine him doing funny things like picking his nose or catching a quick nap during senate session hearings and whatnot.

I heard that his "supporters," before Noy-noy "decided" to "accept" the "ordeal" of running for president even made signature drives but the results were, well, a little bit short of catastrophic. Apart from these gooks who started these drives, about two (2) other people signed I think, but they get to keep the pens. The pens perhaps are Parkers. So, even without the millions of signatures of Filipinos "clamoring" for another child of a president to become president because it is his goddamned "destiny,"--just like it was the devil-whore GMA's--f*cking Noy-noy went ahead and "accepted" the "offer" for him to run for president of this so-called great democracy.

But what really bugs me is Mar "Anak, itabi mo, ako na" Roxas' decision to back out from the presidential race. I never really liked the b*tch Korina Sanchez, but I really do feel for her. I also sympathize with everyone who placed their entire trust--though misguided, if I may say so myself--to Mr. Palengke. I mean, if I really believed that this guy, f*cking Mar Roxas is worthy and should be the next president of this republic, and then when the sh*t hits the fan he suddenly backs the f*ck out without even consulting anyone who is anyone in his core camp, I'd be fuming mad with disappointment in epic proportions. If I were Korina, I'd bitch-slap him twice on both cheeks. Damn cowardice ruined first lady dreams. I wish the wedding pulls through as it should. At least the people will find that entertaining and would leave some sort of psychological saving-grace for Roxas.

Then there's Jejomar "Barrack-O" Binay. I heard he's also backing out from the race. Good for him. He was sure to loose anyway. Why? Because the rest of the country is not Makati. Sa Makati, todo-todo ang benepisyo. Sa Pilipinas, todo-todo ang perwisyo. Somehow, however, I am a tad disappointed when I heard the news. Even if he was destined to loose, I could've voted for him. He's a De Molay and for me, that's enough reason.

Manny Villar seems/appears to be doing good. His war chest is huge and he's reacting to recent events like a good tactician should. All this hype with f*cking Noy-noy will surely die down. The elections are still a few months away and a lot of things could still happen. While I don't exactly like his philosophy, I am a sort of a fan of his marketing skill. This guy could probably sell refrigerators to damn Eskimoes. His campaign strategy is cool and well thought of ab initio. The "interview" with Boy Abunda was a stroke of genius. I particularly liked one Q&A which went like this:

Boy Abunda: Senator, maraming nagsasabi na napakalaki na ng inyong nagasta sa kampanya, at alam naman ng lahat na kung hindi mangungurakot ang isang opisyal ng gobyerno, hindi nya mababawi ang kanyang nagastos noong siya ay nangangampanya pa lamang. Ano po ang masasabi ninyo dito?

Manny Villar: Alam mo Boy, bata pa lang ako, namulat na ako sa negosyo, at dahil sa sipag at tiyaga, na pinaniniwalaan kong mayroon lahat tayong mga Pilipino, at dahil ako ay sinwerte, medyo naka-angat ako sa buhay. Tungkol naman sa mga nagastos ko, at patuloy pa ring ginagastos dulot ng aking paghahangad makapag-lingkod ng lubos, hindi ko na iniisip na bigyan yan ng halaga.

Eto naman ang tanonng ko sa iyo Boy, papaanno mo ibnigyan ng halaga o presyo ang isang panngarap? Pangarap ko ang maglingkod sa ating bayan bilang pangulo at gagawin ko ang lahat para matupad ang pangarap na ito. Hindi na bale ang lahat ng gastos alang-alang sa pangarap kong maglingkod sa sambayanang Pilipino.

I just hope that if he wins it all, he won't spend all his time being president building ghetto quality subdivisions, flame warring with a d*ckwad like Lacson, and "rescuing" migrant workers who got their lives f*cked-up abroad.

And oh, never-you-mind the pundits ike Estrada (who seems to be loosing his mind these days with that running TV ad), Teodoro, Legarda, BF (the Napoleon-complex ridden jerk who deserves his own hater blog), Villanueva, Panlilio, etc., et-f*cking-cetera. They were all losers to begin with and they will always will be.

Finally, I'm getting to like Chiz Escudero. He has the becoming of a good guy. He won't win if he runs for president, but I starting to like him. Maybe Sherryl, my skinny little classmate from AUSL who had the biggest crush on this skinny little guy was right. Chiz could be "The Man" of the future.

The truth about the H1N1 virus

H1N1. Sounds like a name of an experimental protoype/eco-friendly engine to me (hydrogen-nitrogen virus ver.1 or something to that effect. I'm an chemical engineering illiterate, so excuse me Bren & Whe). On a serious note, the friendly neighborhood Wikipedia defines Swine Flu as (also called swine flu, hog flu, and pig flu) an infection of a host animal by any one of several specific types of microscopic organisms called "swine influenza virus". In 2009 the media labeled the disease as "swine flu" as it is caused by 2009's new strain of A/H1N1 pandemic virus. The origin of this new strain is still unknown. Or rather, more probably, the same has yet to be made public.

Relatively recent events taken together however, enlightened me.

On August 20, 2007 Department of Agriculture officers investigated the outbreak of swine flu in Nueva Ecija and some other areas in Central Luzon. The mortality rate is less than 10% for swine flu, unless there are complications like hog cholera. On July 27, 2007, the Philippine National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) raised a hog cholera "red alert" warning over Metro Manila and 5 regions of Luzon after the disease spread to backyard pig farms in Bulacan and Pampanga, even if these areas tested negative for the swine flu virus.

A couple of days ago, I met a Japanese student-researcher named Shinji Mikami at a local bar. Since I am a fan of all things Japanese, I talked to him in earnest. To my surprise, and only after a few bottles of the disgusting light beer he was drinking, he told me his story and the reason why he was here in the Philippines. The following are his exact words (I have perfect dictation memory):


"When I first came to the Philippines, I studied at Kalayaan College and at the same time I had a job interview at a Japanese Scientific Research company. After studying in Kalayaan College, I started to work in that Japanese company in SBFZ. Actually it was my first job and I was assigned to take charge of the ChemLab even though I was still young and had no experience and knowledge concerning Bio-engineering work. To gain the confidence of my staff as their boss was quite hard for me at first but I discussed and worked with them closely and gradually gained their trust. Although I was the only Japanese scientist in the Olongapo facility, I didn’t feel lonely at all and I didn’t think of escaping from my difficult circumstances, thanks to my beloved staff. What I found difficult in the Olongapo Lab was that most of the staff speak corrupted English and mostly Tagalog (Filipino language) which I don’t understand well. Communication with the members was indeed very difficult for me then. Traveling from Olongapo to Manila, it takes around 3 hours. After every meeting I attended in Manila, I took a bus going back to Olongapo city even though everyone advised me not to take a bus during nighttime. I was able to muster up courage and do this because I was chanting in the trip all the way from Manila for safety. My stay and the research activities I did in Olongapo are my most unforgettable memories. I will never forget them with my sincerest gratitude for loving and accepting me as one of their own fellows.

Later on, or on January 2007, I came back to Japan and my bosses there gave me a new assignment. We (the Olongapo team) were to conduct research on a "Miracle Vaccine" that can actually prevent HIV from mutating into full blown AIDS. The vaccine's function is to slow the growth of the deadly virus 1000 times. Meaning, if it normally takes the HIV to mature into AIDS in about 5-10 years, if we are successful, we can delay that into 5,000 to 10,000 years, or well beyond the life expectancy of any human. For this, we needed to transfer to a bigger facilty at Nueva Ecija. With coordination with CLSU (Central Luzon State University) the company I work for set up a high-technology bio-engineering laboratory just in the outskirts of the university. There we conducted test on the vaccine on pigs, since the pigs are fairly affordable compared to chimpanzees, and closer to the human physiology than mice. For the first month, we were getting all our desired results, we tested the vaccine on swine and got very little side-effects. Just a little flu-like symptoms which can be cured by advanced ordinary medicine. However, I did not know that time that some members of our staff at Nueva Ecija were doing some things behind my back. Instead of disposing the pigs we used up like I told them to, a couple of Filipino employees were selling the discarded test subjects to lechon stands, the nearby public markets, and some to backyard pig farmers. When I learned that, I fired them but it was already too late. I found out later on that the side effect of the vaccine was not ordinary flu, afterall.


The side-effect is what I have come to known as the Progenitor virus, also known as the Founder or Mother virus, and is the first of the mutagenic viruses I have discovered since then, and the basis for all of the ones that followed. The Progenitor virus produces rapid and uncontrollable mutation in a host's genetic code, but the mutations were not coordinated enough to produce effective and controllable effects. In hosts with a genetic structure less complex than humans, mutations are less pronounced, and usually restricted to photosensitivity coupled with increases in size and aggression.


(Mutations? Photosensitivity? Increases in size and aggression? WTF?!?)


Shinji continued: I also found out that our Japan counterparts have succeeded in creating the Tyrant or "T" virus at the Soka University Facility on March 12, 2007 through synthesis of the Progenitor virus and leech DNA. Through this synthesis, the photosensitivity of the early Progenitor strain was replaced with pyrosensitivity, a property that can be seen in most of the series' enemies. The T virus allegedly operates similarly to most other viruses, but also has the abilities to reanimate dead tissue, to substantially mutate its host, and to infect nearly any tissue in any type of host. It animates dead tissue by killing and replacing any mitochondria in infected cells, and then combining with these cells to produce enough energy for motor and lower brain functions. By doing this, most of the body's systems, such as the circulatory or respiratory systems, are made redundant. However, this process has the drawback of severe necrosis in the host, and produces the distinctive rotted appearance of most test subjects. The mutations are produced when the virus incorporates itself into the host's genetic code and considerably alters it. Creatures with genetic structures different than humans generally show less severe mutations, and usually only increase in size. I further learned that the Japan facility were experimenting on people. But don't worry, they told me that they only use Koreans and sometimes filthy Arabs.


As a side effect of the virus' consumption of its host, specifically its digestion of the host's frontal lobes, all hosts suffer from increased aggression. The virus also damages the hypothalamus, which results in a flood of neurotransmitters, enzymes, and hormones which induce a psychopathic rage and hunger in the host. The Tyrant or T virus was further developed in our labs in Mexico, since the cost of running our operation there is cheaper compared to Japan, and come to think of it, Mexican test-subjects are really like Koreans and Arabs: cheap and disposable. Human test-subjects are disposed of in the proper manner everytime, after all. All those N1H1 casualty reports seen at CNN are not caused by the virus but of the highly effective human-subject diposal drug which the company developed to make it look like a death which originates from a massive influenza seizure.


(Psychopathic rage and hunger?!? Human-testing and disposal?!? I almost spilled my drink in disbelief)


Things went seriously wrong after the first quarter of this year. Some Americans were infected by a modified strain of the T virus from an infected pig. Some drunk kid from Anaheim apparently copulated with the swine in our facility in Cancun and later on infected most people staying in the hotel he was staying in. The recent reports about N1H1 are all about the weak variant of the T virus. The T virus however, has the capacity to evolve over time. I have told you in the beginning of my story that we were developing a vaccine designed to stunt the development if the HIV virus 1,000 times, right? The T virus is just the same. If it takes a normal flu virus 3 days to incubate, the T virus, however weak it is will evolve into its mature form at 1,000 times the slower than the speed of a normal flu virus, or 3,000 days. In short, those infected today with the so-called N1H1 virus will become similar to movie zombies about 3,000 days from the time they first contracted the infection. That is the reason why despite 70+ infections of "N1H1" in this country has been reported, no one yet has died. 3,000 days from now, not only will these people will die, but they will become the undead. Within 5 years, the restof the world will be infected, and within 15 to 20 years, those who have not developed a natural immunity to the T virus will either become dead or undead. So good luck to you, kaibiganu."


Shinji left the bar but not without paying for my bill along with his own. About 10 seconds after he left, I pulled out my cellphone from my jacket pocket and called God.


Me: "Hello, uhm, God, being omniscient and all, can you tell me if the crazy shit, er, I mean stuff the Japanese dude told me was true?"


God: "The things he said, my son, are NOTHING BUT A LOAD OF CRAP."


Me: "Oh. Ok, later God. Thanks." After punching in the "end call" button, I realized something nothing short of an ephiphany: Such is my belief of God. I always believe in everything he says to me. Everything else is just a load of crap.