I’ve been having a bad week. I am truly grateful for friends who ask me what’s wrong, friends who want to find out what’s happening because they care. I can’t believe the others though – saying all these things without even knowing what’s really going on, not asking and attempting to find out. Sad about what’s coming up, but after thinking about it and after this, a bit glad too.

I’m glad that the elections are over, because that means the body count will not increase anymore. Or is that wishful thinking?

The elections are over, yes. But today is just the start for the Philippines. We will have to live with the choices of majority of the Filipinos. This year I really didn’t have a bet whom I believed in, so I didn’t care that I wasn’t able to register. I was so upset during the last elections because my name wasn’t on the list. I went to the Comelec headquarters of Binan to complain to a not-so-helpful Comelec guy, and I called all the stations to complain about what happened. Now, it doesn’t really matter. Please don’t lecture me – some will say that 1 vote is the start of a million votes. If 1 million people will think the same way and not vote, that’s 1 million votes down the drain. True, but what if I really don’t believe in any of the candidates anymore? Not a single one. For me, there is no distinction anymore between the administration and the opposition – they are all the same, backing up laws that will be beneficial to them, going against laws that the other side proposed never mind the benefits to the people. And who cares about the laws – they’re not being implemented anyway! Yes we vote for some government officials, but some important positions are by appointment. Anyway, I don’t want to rant. I’ll just end this train of thought with this: Not voting because you don’t care is different from not voting because of the conviction that there’s no one worth voting for.

Let’s not even talk about cheating. Does it matter? Some of the questionable winners will probably be legit winners. Hey, Erap won and I believe he didn’t cheat. Would you say democracy prevailed when he won? Hard to believe that, huh?

I’ve told my closest friends about what I think should happen to our government. A bit too radical for some out there, but it is my conviction. Unless there is a major overhaul in the government, nothing’s going to happen to the Philippines.

And we’re down to three! I can’t believe it! Watching the hilarious auditions of American Idol just seems like yesterday! Haven’t been able to catch the episodes on TV lately because of work, but THANK GOD for YouTube I get to watch the performances.

Melinda. Jordin. Blake. Do you agree with America on the final three? Honestly, I don’t think third place matters. I truly believe that this is going to be between Melinda and Jordin – they have been very consistent, especially Melinda who did not have a bad week. Not one. She had some weak performances, but those were still awesome – imagine that! I think next week is a do or die week for Blake – the burden is on him to prove that he has a shot to be the next American Idol.

If you’ll ask me to predict who’s going to win, I will not be able to give an answer. Melinda has been consistent and at times it seems that she has it in the bag. However, Jordin has been doing well too and sometimes you forget that she’s just 17. But I think they’re both winners already – whether or not they win they will be awesome artists. Just look at Chris Daughtry, fourth place in American Idol, first place in the charts.

I can’t wait for the next two weeks!

Bougainvillea
Originally uploaded by Carambs!.

I really love this photo. I took it for the 24 Hours of Flickr event last May 5, 2007, but submitted something else. I think I like it because it’s alone, when Bougainvilleas are usually bunched together. I have a feeling I’m gonna get into this macro thing more and more – I think it’s cool!

Well, I didn’t like the final 3 so I kinda lost interest. I find Charla and Myrna really annoying, I think Eric and Danielle are forgettable, and I don’t like the beauty queens. I love Danny and Oswald – yes, what they did to Eric and Danielle was not nice but overall they’re still adorable, good people. Call me naive, but for me, the best racers are the nice people who raced well. (As opposed to those who define “best” as cut-throat like Rob and Amber and the beauty queens.)

I wonder how it will be like if there are no 12-hour mandatory rest period. What if it’s up to the racers to budget their time? Also, what if the activities with time constraints are lessened? I think those activities unnecessarily levels the playing field. There have been several races where it boiled down to the last day – in effect, making the rest of the race kind of (just a bit ok?) useless. I don’t know, just thinking about how to make the race more interesting. But still, I love this show, and I will always follow it. Can’t wait for the next edition actually.

Thanks to 2nd Avenue, I get to watch Ellen! I actually enjoy her show. She’s not the usual talkshow host – she’s unique and she’s really funny! I enjoy the different portions of her show, except for the first part when she makes that annoying sound “Kaaah!”

Just recently she hurt her back and her doctor ordered that she go on bedrest. Well, she’s in bed, but still doing her show! So instead of using couches now, there are two beds on her set – one for her, one for her guests. Cool!

…feels good. I love the peace that comes with it. The peace in turn brings genuine joy. And life just seems so much more fun, and worth living.

I watched Spider-man 3 with Jovan in Eastwood yesterday. We really usually watch the big movies on the first day, if we can. It was… okay. Will post more about it after a week or so, when everybody has watched it already.