A Girl Can Fall In Love

11:52 AM Tuesday, May 25, 2010

While battling with hunger yesterday, I got to thinking about how easy it is to fall in love.

And I've met so many men who I could have fallen in love with, or did fall in love with for a brief moment. Sometimes, it's just the tilt of the head. A smile. Something he said. Sometimes, it's a glorious conversation, a grand night of dancing, a great day of laughs. Sometimes, it can even be for stupid reasons like he's not your usual type, or you know you're not his type, or you just wondered how things would be if two creeps got together. I meant freaks. Or weirdos. :)

Because the point is, there are many men with good enough qualities out there. So, a girl can fall in love easily. A boy too. And some do choose to do so while others aspire for more elusive partners, ideals, prizes.

Thankfully, I wasn't a hopeless romantic but a hopeful one.

While Phil Hellmuth's record of being the youngest WSOP Main Event winner stood firm for nearly 20 years before it was broken by Peter Eastgate, Eastgate's record was replaced just one year later. Nonetheless, this impressive young player from Denmark has shown some amazing skill. He has some immense accomplishments under his belt already, and is continuing to show a commitment to the game.

Like many other poker players, Eastgate was introduced to the game at a young age. It happened while he was in Denmark, attending the equivalent of high school at the Canute's Gymnasium. He continued to follow in the footsteps of other great players by dropping out of college to pursue the path of the professional poker player.

Eastgate began making noteworthy tournament placings in 2007, when he made a final table finish at the Irish Poker Open. The European Poker Tour and PokerStars Caribbean Adventures all landed him respectable amounts of money. However, it wasn't until his presence in the 2008 WSOP that people started to turn and look. He won his way into the WSOP through satellite at an online poker site.

He played through the tournament effectively, landing in the number four spot for chip count at the final table. He survived down to the heads up and then beat Demidov, another young player new to the WSOP brackets, for a massive prize pool. His victory in this final head to head wasn't surprising. He went into this last stage of the tournament with significantly more chips than his opponent, and by the time the final move was made, he had bled Demidov down to about 10 percent of his own chip stack size.

Quickly rising through the ranks, Eastgate has already passed the $10 million mark for tournament winnings, and doesn't show signs of stopping any time soon.

One of the ideas I greatly toyed with while I was lounging in the hammock in Marinduque is whether or not I should push to shift to Wordpress and finally pay for web hosting.

Fellow bloggers earning from their blogs attest to how much easier it is to actually earn, from paid links to Google Ads, when your blog is a hosted Wordpress blog because it is easier to manage content with Plugins. Plus, payu2blog.com is not accepting blogger-hosted blogs anymore so any new blog you're going to enrol in their paid links service will have to be a hosted Wordpress blog.

So my assignment now is to finally make that leap. I can start by reading up on website hosting more and learn the costs and work that will be required of me. Migrating old posts may also be an issue so I need to prepare for that. But it's really time I take blogging to another level. Other bloggers have carved out their own niches and generated followers while all my blogs have languished with nary a reader.

Time for change for better blogging rewards, I say.

Mother Wishes

7:57 AM Monday, May 10, 2010

This is a belated wish to all mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day. I really hoped they were able to rediscover all the joys and reasons and motivations that kept them going, improving, evolving and giving as mothers.

And then here is a wish that the people going to election precincts today will keep their cool in the summer heat, their patience in the chaos, and their presence of mind and dignity when casting their ballots. I hope the Filipinos will not disappoint their Motherland today.

9 Days to Go Before Elections

9:35 AM Saturday, May 01, 2010

Shamefully, yes, I am not a registered voter.

I did not take the trouble of re-registering under my married name. Plus, since I have missed two elections already, I doubt I am still in the voting list. Then again, sometimes, the dead still are, so what do I know.

Anyway, I did ask my cousin if she could ask if I am still on the list when she goes to the election precinct on May 10. Because if I still am, then I will go vote.

Truth be told, I am not in love with any of the candidates. But for the top position, I would probably choose among Gibo (who at least hasn't resorted to any mudslinging and has consistently shown he knows his politics), Gordon (because of his achievements) and Eddie Villanueva (because I believe him to be the least corrupt and the least corruptible).

For VP, it may be Binay for the work he's done in Makati, although I despise the "I am only human and make mistakes" bit he said about having had an affair. But the affair, it feels, has really been over and done with. Compare him with Erap and am sure Binay is still considered a saint. Or maybe Fernando, because of the work he's done as MMDA Chairman and in Marikina.

I just want someone who have really done something already.

But I fear that Villar will really be declared President. And already, I have visions of the Philippines becoming a flat land of real estate properties. Gone will be the agricultural lands that feed the many, and in place, will be properties that will make only a few richer. Immensely richer. And Ondoy will become a natural occurence as Philippines is flattened out.

And Noynoy will just be another Cory. If he gets elected, he will never have balls of steel. He will always be dependent on advisers (in this case, mostly his sisters) and nobody will ever be confident in him and his government.

I like Pia Cayetano but since he's in Villar's camp, I am not so sure. Then again, they usually just really work on their own anyhow. It's not like there's a party loyalty here.

For Manila mayorship, it would be Lim, just so he wouldn't remove the lights he has already installed along Quirino and UN Avenue. That's a waste of money, in terms of projects go, but replacing it with just another brainless project will just be a bigger waste of money. So I'd rather it stays. Plus, I think the Atienzas are bigger schmucks.

For pary list, I will choose from among the women empowerment groups. I am still hoping they will bridge the gap a little more in terms of bringing equity about between men and women, in all aspects of society.

What about you, who will you vote for?