The group despite my plea for a despedida-less resignation threw one for me anyway.  Not that it wasn’t appreciated, I just hate goodbye gatherings, there’s an expectation that the person leaving should shed a few tears.  I had to disappoint them, of course.  My tears only come out during special occasions and only when I’m under my blanket, sucking my thumb.

I got gifts though so that totally erased the suckiness of the whole situation.  I got two books; one on a past president associated with cigars and Monica Lewinsky, and another about the so called audacity of hope by the US’ president elect.  Somebody commented that the latter is a good read.  Whoop-de-doo!  Was that unsolicited comment a thumbs up for the book or just one of those ‘look at me, I read books like that, I’m so interesting’.

Not that I didn’t appreciate these two books but I would rather receive the last two books of the Twilight series and the final installment of Chris Paolini’s trilogy– Brisinger.  Oh well, everything’s all good I suppose.

Damn, I’m gonna miss this office’s fast internet connection.

I’m thinking of coming out of the internet closet.  Now that I’m officially one of the jobless squad, I don’t see any reason to maintain a secret identity anymore.  That one really was for the benefit of the organization.  I couldn’t be caught blogging during office hours now, could I?

Anyhow, the heavy metal pounding in my head is subsiding.  I guess I’ll hasten their silence by getting a little shut-eye.  Ta.

I was brought to my senses
I was blind but now that I can see
Every signpost in nature
Said you belong to me

– Sting

I’ve had enough. I’ve had my share of cursing the first rays of sunlight, of wishing that some drivers would drop dead, of wanting to run over civilians who insist on crossing the street when the lights are green. I want to be an amused bystander and perhaps join those hated throng just for the fun of it.

In my own way I have already reached what needed to be reached. These are not the heights that Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have scaled, but they are high enough for people to wish that they were on the same plane too. There’s really not much to it, just water that’s scented and flavored and colored– superficial things that are easily forgotten once you start scratching the surface. I did my own scratching and I concluded that the things I was after weren’t worth the lost time, the foregone laughter with family, the opportunity to really live.

I’m writing 30 so I can enjoy the things that are supposed to be enjoyed while I’m still alive.

I was watching Recount in HBO the other day and I wondered if there will be anything of that sort in this year’s US elections.  Recount was a movie depicting the behind the scenes stories surrounding one of the most if not the most controversial elections in US history.  The actors then were Al Gore and George W. Bush.  The presidency went down to who won Florida.  It was a bit biased in my opinion, with the Republicans being portrayed as sleazy politicians who would use every advantage to their favor.  The Democrats were portrayed as do-gooders who were out to save America from ‘the Man’.

It isn’t the most objective piece on what happened during that election in my opinion, and it seems that the US elections this year was a far cry from the very controversial 2000 presidential elections.

Of course it can’t compare to the circus that we call elections here in the Philippines, what with all the guns, goons, and gold flying every which way, the dagdag bawas schemes, the vote buyings, the coercions and even the election-related violence.  What impressed me was how peaceful the elections were, the counting, the reporting.

I’m not sure if it proves that we’re a less civilized race, I just pray that there will come a time when we can have elections just like what the US had.

His trainor started by placing an empty tennis can in the cornermost part of the service court.  Must be a marker so the kid won’t get lost, I thought.  The kid then took out his racket, hmm.. same model as Roger Federer’s, this kid is loaded.  What a fashion victim I said to myself.  I didn’t want to go near that racket because it’s awfully heavy around 11 oz.  I’m only using a 9.7 oz racket and already I think it’s too heavy.

Then the trainor started feeding him balls to hit…

When Andre Agassi was only 7 years old, tennis magazines already described his forehand as ‘like a cannon’.  I found it hard to believe that a 7 year old could already generate a power like that.  But the source wasn’t exactly The Sun, so at the minimum it has to be believable.  I also took into consideration that when that tennis magazine article came out, Andre Agassi was reigning the sport of tennis.  Makes it easier to swallow pronouncements like ‘when he was seven years old, andre’s forehand was like a cannon’, after all, who can dispute that statement when the world number one then was hitting balls with impunity, especially in the forehand side.  I was still sceptical but I took everything in stride.  So what if it’s true? Pssh.

Then I heard the sound of a racket colliding against a ball, the same sound that I wish my racket would make when it strikes a ball.  If somebody had told me that a chubby kid of 9 could make that sound with his racket, I wouldn’t have believed him.  But the problem was, I’m seeing everything with my own eyes, hearing the sound with my very own ears.  The kid has turned into a ball hitting monster.  Each swing was devastating.  I know this could sound exaggerated but you only need to see how these balls were being hit, how the balls skid on the surface upon landing because of the pace generated by the kid’s powerful swings.  The tennis can was there for target practice.  With all the balls zinging past the can, I can almost feel it quivering in fear.

After more than 10 minutes, the trainor moved the can to the ad court.  Surely the pace would be slower now, I thought.  This is the backhand after all.  But I think the kid has forgotten that he has a racket and not a baseball bat because when the trainor started feeding him balls, he was whacking those balls like he’s aiming for a homerun.  Not that the balls were hitting the grandstands, they were spot on.  And if I was amazed with the ferocity that he was hitting forehands, this time he added a lot of grunts with his double handed backhands.  It was unbelievable.  I stopped playing and just sat near the canteen watching the kid molesting those balls.  It was plenty unreal.

The sad part about the whole thing though was that while the kid was thoroughly abusing those balls with his groundstrokes, everytime he commits a mistake, he gets a tongue lashing from his dad and from the trainer.  I know these things are considered serious especially if you have lofty ambitions but must it always be tough love?  The kid was doing wonders out there and he’s clearly enjoying what he’s doing but all those admonitions could pile up and take their toll on the young kid’s mind.  If this is the price of being a wonder kid, I think it’s too high of a price to pay.

The fencesitter is making a lot of difficult and sometimes foolish decisions these days.  The last foolish act he did, was to automatically wipe out all the comments captured by this blog’s akismet plug-in.  Of course the whole basket contained legit comments from friends and spammers alike.  He really feels bad about some of the comments he deleted inadvertently especially the one from Busby SEO Test.  Sorry bro, the fencesitter hopes this link-love would make up for his boo-boo.

But wait, has the fencesitter gone bonkers?  Why in mama muffin’s store is he suddenly referring to himself in the third person?  Well, if it’s any consolation the fencesitter is bonkers, those following this blog should know that by now.  And referring to himself in the third person seems cool (for the moment), at least until some other pretentious thing catches his fancy.  Actually, a butt crack from a really disgusting person would do.  In which case, the fencesitter would have no other recourse but to make his entries sound like they were coming from a butt rack.

This is nothing but a publicity stunt of course, but you know, the fencesitter has always been known for his failed social experiments.  Remember the whatshisface?  See he is such a failure that he even forgets his projects.  Enough said.

The change is also in keeping with what’s happening around me these days.  I finally found the courage to raise the white flag.  Yes, dear boys and girls, I finally quit my ridiculously high-paying(nyaha!) job.  The reason?  Should there be any?  Well, if there must be, you know how it is with guys like me, it’s always about a girl.

So yeah, I’ll be staring at unemployment straight in the eyes a coupla weeks from now.  Starvation too.  But you know, a full stomach might make everything alright, but love and freedom is way, way much better.  I think.  I’ll have to get back to you on this.

You say you want a revolution.  Well, you know. 

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out
Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right (3x)

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait / Don’t you know…

You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You’d better free your mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow / Don’t you know…
All right, all right…

The one thing that really keeps me alive these days is tennis. My swing is slowly and erratically coming back– along with, well, some power. I’m popping my strings every other week now. I put a lot of spin on my balls and because the strings are wound sooo tight, they easily pop. It is a costly sport– but really fun. I’m no longer bageled by the trainer when we play singles but I am still losing miserably. I need to do something about that in the next three weeks.

I bought another racket as a spare. It’s a bad habit I know (going all out on sports equipment) but I need that spare! This morning when we had to stop playing because my string popped again, the die was cast. The good thing is, because of the popularity of badminton, tennis rackets are heavily discounted. I bought one of those K Factor rackets at half the price! I was even tempted to go crazy and buy another of the same racket.

In tennis it really makes sense to have an identical spare, unless you’re a pro, and in which case you need at least 5. Having an identical racket means that you won’t have to do some adjustments with your game as your spare will have the same weight, head size, grip size, and tension. I think Roger Federer brings around 7 rackets with him. Marat Safin starts a tournament with 8 (I think) and leaves home with only 3. That guy has a love-hate relationship with the tennis court. When things aren’t going so well, he abuses his rackets by slamming them on the court.

Now if only we can apply that principle to SO’s. Just kidding.

Have a nice week ahead!