Please pass to your ARCHIE-reading friends. Someone's junk may just be another man's treasure.

Thanks to the Galleria sale, I was able to buy a lot of Archie comics for 20 pesos per issue! Reading them this morning made me remember some stories that I have been looking for since I was a kid. Never could find those issues. I don't know why it never occured to me before to use this website in tracking down those issues. Maybe because I felt that it was futile. Anyways, please check out this list, maybe you have an issue that you don't really care for anymore. Bakasakali lang.

Thank you

Jughead's Time Police #4 - the cover has two jugheads about to bump into one another http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=44728148572%204

Jughead #17 - Jughead becomes Batman! http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=enlarge&issue=44708834232%2017

Jughead #1 to 14 - Jughead's first and only girlfriend, Joani, moves back to Riverdale. http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=44708834232&publisher=ARC&snumber=1

Jughead #22 to 27 - Jughead talks to a psychiatrist, Sara, and we slowly learn more about the way he thinks (and the meaning of the S on his shirt) http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=44708834232&publisher=ARC&snumber=1

House of Riverdale Part 1 to 3 (or is it 4) - a haunted tale featuring Archie and the gang

Veronica #25 http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=92842100946%2025

Betty's Diary - the focus is on Betty... i know that one of these issues even deals with the death of a close friend of hers http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=10259777408&snumber=1

Old Sabrina comics - not the one from the cartoons where she's a kid again, nor the manga version

Betty and Me #197 - Betty gives up on Archie http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=10155479972%20197

Dilton's Strange Science #4 http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=25209076568%204

Feel free to message me as well if you're selling 2nd hand digests and double-digests at a cheap price.

Thanks again!

I'm very happy today. Scratch that. I'm ecstatic!!!!!

I finally found 2 classic games that I was looking for since 2006. Rygar (Let's Fight) and Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest!!!!!!

I even found both on the same multicart!!!!!!!! And Castlevania 2 is in English pa.

Yay!!!!!!!!!! Thanks kuya and James!

I had the chance to read this, thanks to one of my former Managers. I first met Les Turla while he was still single, and now that he's happily married to a beautiful wife (and blessed with a cute lil kid), I bet this really touched him :) 

How did I find the article? Inspiring... thought-provoking... life-affirming... love-promoting :D

Awwwwwwwwwww...

You guys know I don't pay attention to forwarded material (much less forward them), but *this* is too beautiful to ignore. 

Here is Les' intro, with the article following shortly:

Found this while blog-hopping. Like all the rest of the previous readers, I found myself nodding in agreement one paragraph after another. For those in a relationship, wanting to be in a relationship, just got out of a relationship, or wanting to get out of, even those who are in a "it's complicated" status you'll definitely see more clearly by reading this.

Eduardo Calasanz was a student at the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines, where he had Father Ferriols as professor. Father Ferriols, meanwhile at that time, was the Philosophy
department head. Currently he still teaches Philosophy for graduating college students in Ateneo.

Father Ferriols has been very popular for his mind-opening and enriching classes but was also
notorious for the grades he gives. Still people took his classes for the learning and deep insight they take home with them every day (if only they could do something about the grades..... )

Anyway, come grade giving time, (Ateneo has letter grading systems, the highest being an A, lowest at D, with F for flunk), Fr Ferriols had this long discussion with the registrar people because he wanted to give Calasanz an A+. Either that or he doesn't teach at all... Calasanz got his A+.


THE ARTICLE

PARTNERS AND MARRIAGE
by Eduardo Jose E. Calasanz


I have never met a man who didn't want to be loved. But I have seldom met a man who didn't fear marriage.Something about the closure seems constricting, not enabling. Marriage seems easier to understand for what it cuts out of our lives than for what it makes possible within our lives.

When I was younger this fear immobilized me. I did not want to make a mistake. I saw my friends get married for reasons of social acceptability, or sexual fever, or just because they thought it was the logical thing to do. Then I watched, as they and their partners became embittered and petty in their dealings with each other. I looked at older couples and saw, at best, mutual toleration of each other. I imagined a lifetime of loveless nights and bickering days and could not imagine subjecting myself or someone else to such a fate.

And yet, on rare occasions, I would see old couples who somehow seemed to glow in each other's presence. They seemed really in love, not just dependent upon each other and tolerant of each other's foibles.

It was an astounding sight, and it seemed impossible. How, I asked myself, can they have
survived so many years of sameness, so much irritation at the others habits? What keeps love alive in them, when most of us seem unable to even stay together, much less love each other?

The central secret seems to be in choosing well. There is something to the claim of fundamental compatibility. Good people can create a bad relationship, even though they both dearly want the relationship to succeed.

It is important to find someone with whom you can create a good relationship from the outset.
Unfortunately, it is hard to see clearly in the early stages.

Sexual hunger draws you to each other and colors the way you see yourselves together. It blinds you to the thousands of little things by which relationships eventually survive or fail. You need to find a way to see beyond this initial overwhelming sexual fascination. Some people choose to involve themselves sexually and ride out the most heated period of sexual attraction in order to see what is on the other side. This can work, but it can also leave a trail of wounded hearts. Others deny the sexual side altogether in an attempt to get to know each other apart from their sexuality. But they cannot see clearly, because the presence of unfulfilled sexual desire looms so large that it keeps them from having any normal perception of what life would be like together.

The truly lucky people are the ones who manage to become long-time friends before they realize they are attracted to each other. They get to know each other's laughs, passions, sadness, and fears. They see each other at their worst and at their best. They share time together before they get swept up into the entangling intimacy of their sexuality. This is the ideal, but not often possible. If you fall under the spell of your sexual attraction immediately, you need to look beyond it for other keys to compatibility.

One of these is laughter. Laughter tells you how much you will enjoy each others company over the long term. If your laughter together is good and healthy, and not at the expense of others, then you have a healthy relationship to the world. Laughter is the child of surprise. If you can make each other laugh, you can always surprise each other. And if you can always surprise each other, you can always keep the world around you new.

Beware of a relationship in which there is no laughter. Even the most intimate relationships based only on seriousness have a tendency to turn sour. Over time, sharing a common serious viewpoint on the world tends to turn you against those who do not share the same viewpoint, and your relationship can become based on being critical together.

After laughter, look for a partner who deals with the world in a way you respect. When two people first get together, they tend to see their relationship as existing only in the space between the two of them. They find each other endlessly fascinating, and the overwhelming power of the emotions they are sharing obscures the outside world. As the relationship ages and grows, the outside world becomes important again.

If your partner treats people or circumstances in a way you can't accept, you will inevitably come to grief.

Look at the way he/she cares for others and deals with the daily affairs of life. If that makes you love her more, your love will grow. If it does not, be careful. If you do not respect the way you each deal with the world around you, eventually the two of you will not respect each other.

Look also at how your partner confronts the mysteries of life. We live on the cusp of poetry and practicality, and the real life of the heart resides in the poetic. If one of you is deeply affected by the mystery of the unseen in life and relationships, while the other is drawn only to the literal and the practical, you must take care that the distance does not become an unbridgeable gap that leaves you each feeling isolated and misunderstood.

There are many other keys, but you must find them by yourself. We all have unchangeable parts of our hearts that we will not betray and private commitments to a vision of life that we will not deny. If you fall in love with someone who cannot nourish those inviolable parts of you, or if you cannot nourish them in her, you will find yourselves growing further apart until you live in separate worlds where you share the business of life, but never touch each other where the heart lives and dreams. From there it is only a small leap to the cataloging of petty hurts and daily failures that leaves so many couples bitter and unsatisfied with their mates.

So choose carefully and well. If you do, you will have chosen a partner with whom you can grow, and then the real miracle of marriage can take place in your hearts. I pick my words carefully when I speak of a miracle. But I think it is not too strong a word.

There is a miracle in marriage. It is called transformation. Transformation is one of the most
common events of nature. The seed becomes the flower. The cocoon becomes the butterfly. Winter becomes spring and love becomes a child. We never question these, because we see them around us every day. To us they are not miracles, though if we did not know them they would be impossible to believe.

Marriage is a transformation we choose to make. Our love is planted like a seed, and in time it begins to flower. We cannot know the flower that will blossom, but we can be sure that a bloom will come. If you have chosen carefully and wisely, the bloom will be good. If you have chosen poorly or for the wrong reason, the bloom will be flawed.

We are quite willing to accept the reality of negative transformation in a marriage. It was negative transformation that always had me terrified of the bitter marriages that I feared when
I was younger. It never occurred to me to question the dark miracle that transformed love into harshness and bitterness. Yet I was unable to accept the possibility that the first heat of love could be transformed into something positive that was actually deeper and more meaningful
than the heat of fresh passion. All I could believe in was the power of this passion and the fear that when it cooled I would be left with something lesser and bitter.

But there is positive transformation as well. Like negative transformation, it results from a slow
accretion of little things. But instead of death by a thousand blows, it is growth by a thousand touches of love. Two histories intermingle. Two separate beings, two separate presences, two separate consciousness come together and share a view of life that passes before them. They remain separate, but they also become one. There is an expansion of awareness, not a closure and a constriction, as I had once feared. This is not to say that there is not tension and there are not traps. Tension and traps are part of every choice of life, from celibate to monogamous to having multiple lovers. Each choice contains within it the lingering doubt
that the road not taken somehow more fruitful and exciting, and each becomes dulled to the richness that it alone contains.

But only marriage allows life to deepen and expand and be leavened by the knowledge that two have chosen, against all odds, to become one. Those who live together without marriage can know the pleasure of shared company, but there is a specific gravity in the marriage commitment that deepens that experience into something richer and more complex.

So do not fear marriage, just as you should not rush into it for the wrong reasons. It is an act of faith and it contains within it the power of transformation. If you believe in your heart that you have found someone with whom you are able to grow, if you have sufficient faith that you can resist the endless attraction of the road not taken and the partner not chosen, if you have the strength of heart to embrace the cycles and seasons that your love will experience, then you may be ready to seek the miracle that marriage offers. If not, then wait. The easy grace of a marriage well made is worth your patience. When the time comes, a thousand flowers will bloom...endlessly.

I Hate Math!!!

High School Math.

Algebra under Father Macayan (rest his soul) really lowered my self-esteem. Di ko talaga makuha. May “tutor” pa ako nun (Bong, my classmate, laki pa rin ng pasasalamat ko sayo dahil sa tiyaga mo). Parang ang bobo ko tuwing math time. Mas mabuti pang ma-jug o kahit post, kesa tawagin sa recitation at mapahiya (“yoooooouuu arrrrrr annnnnn eeediiiiiiiiyoooowwwtttttttt”). Di ko pa rin makakalimutan. First quarter grade – 69! Gandang numero! Kitang-kita sa report card, line of 6!

May nangyari kasi kaninang hapon kaya naalala ko bigla ang Math “trauma” ko. Word problems. Work problems. 1/x. Mixture problems. Dalawang MRT na magbabangaan sa ilalim ng tulay, mas mabilis ang isa ng .4kmh, gaano kalayo bago silang tumama sa isa’t-isa.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Si Maury, ten times ng kalahating edad ng nakababata niyang kapatid na si Jerry na ipinanganak nung 1962. Ilang taon na ang anak ng kambal niyang si Phil?

And Maury…

You are NOT the father!

Pero nakakatawa naman, ‘pag discount problems, perfect! Lagi kasing may practice. Lalo na pag madalas ang midnight madness. 15% off comic books released 6 months prior to current date. Ang dali mag-compute, nagmamadali si dad, kailangan ng sunduin si mom. No problem! Sagot agad, di na kailangan ang scientific calculator na laging dala sa backpack. Solb, bili comics, sibat.

Basta luho nga naman, hehehe :P

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Early this morning, I went with Phippo to Greenhills since he was buying a DS Lite (wish I had one as well). After canvassing the other day, we settled for this store where I usually buy my Gameboy carts at a much cheaper price. We met up with Ej and Ken, who was also thinking of buying a DS Lite (he ended up getting a PSP instead). I like buying at this particular store not only because of their prices, but also because the salesladies there are really nice and funny; plus they know more about gaming compared to the average seller.

Everytime I go to this store, I always check on this particular game that I’ve always wanted to buy: Mario and Luigi: The Superstar Saga. In a span of almost a year, the price of this game has dropped down each time I checked from P1,099 to P849 to P580 and then to P550 last December 31 when we were the only customers left and the store was about to close. I was hoping that it would go even lower, especially with the dirt-cheap prices of some of their older games.

We were real happy ‘coz we were given discounts for Phippo’s DS Lite, Ken’s PSP and even for the accessories that they bought! Phippo even made a joke that they give me the Mario game for free since I was the one who brought them there. A couple of minutes later, the saleslady bags the game and hands it over to me… free of charge!

I was surprised and a bit touched by that J

The reason for this entry’s title? It refers to what happened after. After this generous Christmas-sy deed c/o the salesladies, they discovered that their store had been robbed of some iPods L

No good deed indeed…

2006 Quick Bytes

I received this via Friendster and decided to answer…

44 4 2006:

(1) Places that you hung out the most:

UP Diliman, Druids Keep, Timezone, Podium, Gale, Greenhills, MSE, Starbucks Libran

(2) Favorite new place you discovered:

new to me at least… Gateway, Max Brenner, Heaven & Eggs, Amici, Steak Out

(3) Places you went on dates:

single again this 2006, so… ala hehe

(4) Favorite vacation spot for the year:

my bed… zZZzzZZz…

(5) Places you made out in (or more) this year:

single again this 2006, so… ala ulit :P

(6) Person/s who taught you a lot this year:

Ms. O and my Execs… none of you will ever get to read this so… it’s okay to be mushy haha!

(7) An old friend you rediscovered this year:

There’s three… Ana, Sam and Chuckie

(8) Person/s who told you the nicest thing about yourself:

Sharon, Jogi, Carla, KL, Ms. O and my Execs

(9) Person who did something really great for you (and what):

Carla… cheers me up whenever I’m down…

(10) Person you spent the most time with this year:

Carla

(11) Person you did something really great for (and what):

My ex

(12) Someone you wished you talked to this year:

Tita Kates

(13) Someone whom you started a great new friendship with:

2006? Madami…

(14) Old enemy/s you made peace with this year:

Phippo

(15) Someone you lost this year:

For good? My ex, hehe.

(16) Person/s you kissed this year:

My ex (paulit-ulit na ‘to ha…)

(17) Person who made you laugh the most:

Jogi, Rey, some APS peeps

(18) Person who made you cry:

I rarely cry, but… my ex (hahaha, pattern)

(19) Person/s who you disliked when the year but ended up becoming good friends with:

Carla

(20) Person you had a crush on the entire year:

maybe for the most of 2006… huwag na lang, nasa Multiply eh, hehehe!

(21) Someone you wished you apologized to:

tapos na J

(22) People you went out on dates with:

none this year (does my ex count?)

(23) Friends you went out with a lot:

halo-halo!

(24) Coolest person you met this year:

Jogi, Kel

(25) Clothing item you wore most this year:

plain black shirt or plain white shirt

(26) Nicest present/s you got this year:

Super Mario t-shirt

(27) Favorite song for the year:

Sandalan

(28) Coolest event/s for the year:

8-player Cube Night!!!

(29) New hobby you picked up this year:

exercising and dieting (except this December)

(30) Best book/s of the year:

Teen Titans, X-men: Deadly Genesis, Civil War

(31) Best movie/s:

Ice Age 2

(32) Most shocking news headline of the year:

Tsunami

(33) Favorite food for the year:

Burger Machine pa rin! Tsaka Selecta Sans Rival!

(34) Favorite new artist that came out this year:

Rockista Princess

(35) Wisest thing you did this year:

to let go

(36) Stupidest thing you did this year:

to believe right away

(37) Biggest change in your life this year:

less of an optimist

(38) Biggest challenge of the year:

moving on…

(39) Something you learned the hard way:

ang gamecube 110v, hindi 220v

(40) Greatest lesson you learned/Biggest thing you discovered about the world/Biggest thing you discovered about people in general:

some people make it hard for you to see the best in them

(41) Best joke you’ve heard all year:

‘yung text na paru-paru din naman ang ipis, brown nga lang ang pakpak nyahaha!

(42) Biggest disappointment of the year:

two friends

(43) Biggest blessing of the year:

my closest friends, new dog Vanilla

(44) Goals/dreams for the new year:

Check out this site that debunks (or confirms) comic book urban legends!!!

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2005/06/23/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-history/

Great stuff!

*Ang Kasal*

When I hear of civil weddings, the first thought that comes to my mind is "unromantic."

Waiting for my friends at City Hall, I was exposed to the day-to-day happenings in a goverment office. Anyways, when the couple arrived, they were both very stunning. The groom was in a barong that made the usually kengkoy guy appear very respectable. The bride was in a beautiful dress that would make any guy take a second look before holding that gaze. We were with another friend who would serve as the second witness to the wedding.

If the couple was nervous, it sure didn't show. We were laughing and talking as if it were any other day. Then we started walking to the courtroom. Along the way, we passed by a makeshift prison. This was the holding cell where suspects would stay before and after a hearing. We entered a courtroom where people were tried and convicted. That was also where my friends' wedding would take place.

I took note of some signs that said cellphones would be confiscated if they rang. I also noticed the Christmas decor on the judge's table, and winced at the thought of passing out a guilty verdict amidst cheerful surroundings.

Soon however, we transferred to the judge's office (I'm not sure if this is what they call a "sala"). I'm glad we did because now the wedding seemed more intimate. The judge, unexpectedly, started to talk about love, and as the talk progressed I realized I was wrong. This civil wedding was very romantic. What better way to celebrate a wedding than with a handful of people, present not to eat but to witness the love shared between two people.

The couple was now nervous, but both of them were beaming. Our other friend and I started to take pictures, and my eyes moistened a bit when they each placed a ring on the other's finger. I smiled when they were pronounced husband and wife, and laughed when the groom gave the bride her first kiss as a married lady.

And now my friends were married.

Being UP kids, we had a mini-reception at Chocolate Kiss. Looking at the 2, they seemed different somehow. I started imagining them as a couple, having their first baby, bringing their kid to school, sharing Christmas as a family. If I'm THIS excited about this new journey that they're about to take, I wonder how THEY feel...

*Ang Barkada*

Gerry celebrated his birthday and once again, the barkada had an impromptu reunion. I was late, and scared them when I arrived. The gate looked open from the outside so I pushed it hard, only to find out that it was locked. My pushing created a large "CLANG" that caused a reaction from my friends outside. I muttered "oops, sorry" and they started laughing, relieved.

The food, like always, was great! We started catching up and laughing and we also watched the DVD of Gerry and Saren's wedding. Everyone was excited to see the part where Saren fainted hehehe.

When it was time to go, the girls went to the kitchen to start wrapping the food that we were bringing home. Gerry popped a different DVD into the player. It was "Transformers: The Movie" and we guys were all shouting, having last seen this movie almost 20 years ago. There was silence only when Optimus Prime was killed.

When the girls were done, they had a really hard time prying us from our seats. It was starting to get late so we all decided to call it a night.

*Ang Pelikula*

Can't wait! I usually don't like watching horror movies since I scare easily, but I'm looking forward to "Shake, Rattle & Roll 8." Thus the format of this blog entry, hehehe :P