I spoke too soon. In a previous post, I expressed relief that Manny Pacquiao had bowed out of the political rat race. But a few days ago, he has finally declared his intention to run. What a shame! What a total loss!
This goes to show how much Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo respects the Filipino people. The world’s #1 boxer pound-for-pound is part of the administration’s ticket. Other than his shining boxing career, the Pacman has no other qualifications to run for office. But the administration is banking on his popularity to boost their ticket. Trapo-style in its ugliest and most blatant.
[read on]
Whereas Junichiro Koizumi was a master of international affairs, perhaps even of foreign policy, his successor, Shinzo Abe, is turning out to be the exact opposite. Only a few months in office and he has already ruffled Chinese and Korean feathers.
In my opinion, former Japanese PM Koizumi had the right balance of domestic and foreign policies advocacy. He as well irked China and Korea to no end by annual homage to Yasukuni Shrine. This was, however, a promise he’d made to his constituents. No matter how much diplomatic tension his official visits to the controversial shrine caused, Koizumi stood his ground. This practice was, in Koizumi’s mind, a Japanese — a domestic — matter. [read on]
I’m tutoring a 9-year old Japanese boy, teaching him Math and English. (The latter is no problem for me at all, but the former? this is the very first time that anyone’s asked me to teach Math! Anyway, it’s just Grade 2 arithmetic.) It was our first session last Saturday, and we went through the usual getting-to-know-each-other phase. I’ve known his father for several months now, but this was the first time that the kid’s seen me. He asked me quite candidly what made me decide to take up teaching, and some more questions that were very frank and open. The kind of questions that made me pause and try to give him as frank an answer as I could. [read on]
Today I was at Holiday Spa to talk to my friend Ivy F., who’s the COO of the fitness centers in Davao and Cebu. At last I’ve decided to get back in shape again after years of neglecting my health. so it’s back to aerobics and weights training for me!
And to ensure that I stick to the program, I’ve made up my mind to create a whole new blog — Mission: 6-Pack Abs (http://sixpack.robilloblog.com). Pretty ambitious, if I do say so myself. But I believe it’s important to set the bar high for yourself, to make the goal more challenging.
[read on]
It was a relief to read the news about Manny Pacquiao’s withdrawal from the congressional elections. I was already planning to write something rather inflammatory about his political ambitions (or rather, the ambitions of those people behind Manny’s political bid). It’s good that he came to his senses before it was too late.
And his decision to withdraw was a brave one, too, I might add. He apparently is more concerned of his fans’ sentiments than his losing face. As a Filipino, I am proud of Manny Pacquiao, for his accomplishments.
[read on]
Tonight I had a gastronomic experience that made me say, ‘I could die now!’ But I’m not gonna die just yet… so it means I’m in trouble. From now on, I don’t think I could ever have sashimi again… unless it’s Class A tuna.
See, tonight, at a Japanese friend’s home, I was served Class A yellow-fin tuna (kihada maguro) — this is what is exported to Japan and sold for loads of moolah per kilo. It’s the 
kind of sashimi-grade tuna that’s sweet and oh-so-fresh it feels like angels caressing your palate. [read on]
After a long interval, I was able to go out of town again (Samal’s a different city, but that doesn’t count as going out of town for a Davaoeño). And I was pretty excited about it too, because I’d never been there. Compostela Valley. But it was such a big disappointment. Nothing, absolutely nothing to see but same old stuff — nothing you won’t see anywhere else. Worse, we went to the really rural parts of Compostela, where there was just banana trees everywhere.
[read on]
I’ve finally gotten serious with this whole blogging affair, and decided to get myself a bunch of domains for my various writing interests. This one, www.robilloblog.com, is my new homebase.
[read on]
I’d wanted to do another movie bashing, this time on Blood Diamond… but I saw one written up by a fellow Davao blogger, and I thought, hey! this is so much more on the ball! So I’ll forego my own review and let you read this one @ Southisms.
I just adore bitchy movie reviews hehehe 
Of course you’re entitled to your own sentiments, but I heartily agree with my fellow blogger that the movie suddenly deflated somewhere where, as Kim says, the director called cut.
In the 15 years — on and off — that I’ve been studying the Japanese language, I’ve never been to Japan. I’ve gotten pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself, and I can carry a decent enough conversation with my Japanese friends. What’s more, I’m actally making money out of translating legal documents, company profiles, brochures, etc. But I’ve never been able to realize my linguistic potential. [read on]
