February 24, 2008, 11:43 a.m. – Bar Blues Update
Sender; Atty. Kaye
“Bka daw march yun yung narinig ko. Enjoy ka muna”
Atty. Kaye is a close friend of my sister in college. Her pre-law course is Mass Communication major in Film.
FILM.?!?
It’s a general misconception among the public that you need political science, legal management or CPA degree as your pre-law course to enter law school. The fact is you only need any four year college course as a pre-law course to enter law.
She took the 2006 bar exams and passed on her first try. She is now working as a legal staff of one of the Justices of the Supreme Court. I always text her if she hears rumors on the release day of the bar. So when she says its March it’s most probably March.
Hmm, enjoy muna?. Sige try ko. Hahahahahuhuhu.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Swerte sa Pagibig
February 15, 2008, 12:27 p.m.
Sender: Beneboy
“Bro kami na!”
There are two general views on Valentines Day, a day for celebrating love and the act of sharing the love or it can be viewed as a commercialized holiday created by capitalists to sell flowers and chocolates. Either way it gives the PHILVOCS scientists bragging rights over scientists around the world by successfully predicting the exact location of the occurrence of earthquakes.
Just steer clear of Pasay and Sta. Mesa on valentines and your safe.
*wink wink
If you ask Beneboy, Valentines Day is the first definition. After the bar exams he met in his hometown his special girl and a lawyer at that. I knew he liked the girl but I had no idea he was that serious. There is a running joke among law students and lawyers that if a single male law student passes the bar, his stock will rise. If a single female law student passes the bar her stocks will fall. I know it’s a very sexist joke but in some ways it has some basis. There is this general notion that men are intimidated by smart and overachieving females because it runs smack against their male pride especially among “macho” Filipinos.
They are still a couple up to this date, and I heard somewhere that there are talks of marriage in the air. I guess after the bar exams Beneboy.
Sender: Beneboy
“Bro kami na!”
There are two general views on Valentines Day, a day for celebrating love and the act of sharing the love or it can be viewed as a commercialized holiday created by capitalists to sell flowers and chocolates. Either way it gives the PHILVOCS scientists bragging rights over scientists around the world by successfully predicting the exact location of the occurrence of earthquakes.
Just steer clear of Pasay and Sta. Mesa on valentines and your safe.
*wink wink
If you ask Beneboy, Valentines Day is the first definition. After the bar exams he met in his hometown his special girl and a lawyer at that. I knew he liked the girl but I had no idea he was that serious. There is a running joke among law students and lawyers that if a single male law student passes the bar, his stock will rise. If a single female law student passes the bar her stocks will fall. I know it’s a very sexist joke but in some ways it has some basis. There is this general notion that men are intimidated by smart and overachieving females because it runs smack against their male pride especially among “macho” Filipinos.
They are still a couple up to this date, and I heard somewhere that there are talks of marriage in the air. I guess after the bar exams Beneboy.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Prayers Answered
January 29, 2008, 3:15 p.m.
Sender: Abogwapo
“Wow! Good to hear tol. Punta ust gusto mo sumabay?
January 29, 2008, 3:16 p.m.
Sender: Mom
“Congrats punta ka sss nir cti hall hingi membership application "
At last, someone called back. I just finished with a final interview with a BPO company located in Makati and I passed. I was told I could start on February as a legal researcher in the company. Being a BPO the work hours are different from “regular” companies. My work hour shifts from 6am to 2pm and 2pm to 10pm, the change in schedule is implemented monthly. So for one month I cannot go out late since my shift starts at 6am and the next month I can go as late as I want. The schedule was hard for me to adjust in the start specially waking up as early as 4 am to get to work in time. At least I wasn’t given a graveyard shift.
It felt good finally landing a job. It makes you feel you have a purpose and needed. At the same time you begin to have financial independence from your parent’s which is really empowering. It was also a bonus that I got to work in Makati, since all of my friends work there too. But I soon found out that meeting with them is difficult due to my unusual schedule.
Looking back, law school really retarded my life for five years. I always meet with high school or college batch mates who were already supervisors in their jobs while some were already married with kids. You may say, ”Why didn’t you become a working student, its been done before?” the short answer to that is my parent’s forbade me. It’s sort of a deal I made, if I want their support to enter law school I must focus on it. If I want to work, then work. The obvious choice is the first since I really wanted to pursue a law degree but at the same time I had no financial capacity to support myself at the time.
So at the age of 26 I officially became part of the workforce for the first time. It was an exciting day and I finally felt things were turning for the better.
I spoke to soon.
Sender: Abogwapo
“Wow! Good to hear tol. Punta ust gusto mo sumabay?
January 29, 2008, 3:16 p.m.
Sender: Mom
“Congrats punta ka sss nir cti hall hingi membership application "
At last, someone called back. I just finished with a final interview with a BPO company located in Makati and I passed. I was told I could start on February as a legal researcher in the company. Being a BPO the work hours are different from “regular” companies. My work hour shifts from 6am to 2pm and 2pm to 10pm, the change in schedule is implemented monthly. So for one month I cannot go out late since my shift starts at 6am and the next month I can go as late as I want. The schedule was hard for me to adjust in the start specially waking up as early as 4 am to get to work in time. At least I wasn’t given a graveyard shift.
It felt good finally landing a job. It makes you feel you have a purpose and needed. At the same time you begin to have financial independence from your parent’s which is really empowering. It was also a bonus that I got to work in Makati, since all of my friends work there too. But I soon found out that meeting with them is difficult due to my unusual schedule.
Looking back, law school really retarded my life for five years. I always meet with high school or college batch mates who were already supervisors in their jobs while some were already married with kids. You may say, ”Why didn’t you become a working student, its been done before?” the short answer to that is my parent’s forbade me. It’s sort of a deal I made, if I want their support to enter law school I must focus on it. If I want to work, then work. The obvious choice is the first since I really wanted to pursue a law degree but at the same time I had no financial capacity to support myself at the time.
So at the age of 26 I officially became part of the workforce for the first time. It was an exciting day and I finally felt things were turning for the better.
I spoke to soon.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Divine Intervention
January 26, 2008, 4:53 p.m.
Sender: Beneboy
“St. Therese’s relics will be at sta. teresita parish at mayon st. q.c. mass and exposure wil be at 10am. Sana makapunta kau”
A famous bar reviewer once told us that “If you’re an atheist, you will find your religion during the bar exams.”
“Lahat ng santo tatawagin nyo. Kahit si sta. mesa at si st. cinnamon tatawagin nyo.”
At this point I am bordering on, wait, I am already desperate and depressed. I have not found a job yet and I have been job hunting since late October. I had long dropped my pride and asked relatives if they can refer me to a job and started applying for positions requiring lower qualifications. I can already feel the enormous pressure and I didn’t want to be called a bum and I hate the feeling of having to ask for allowance at my age.
The strain of waiting for the results of the bar exams is also bearing down on me, with every text message received from other barristers I feel a small shudder before opening it that it might be the news I was dreading to hear.
I don’t remember going to the Sta. Tersita Parish to visit the relics but I do remember visiting St. Jude in Malacanang during the waiting period. I am a practicing catholic, I go to church every Sunday, I pray the rosary every night. I think it was my faith that helped me survive those long arduous period in my life. I remembered my prayers back then was ended with “your will be done” and “help me accept the things I cannot change”. But secretly (if that’s even possible with God) I wanted to directly ask for me to pass the bar exams, even how selfish it might sound.
Whatever the outcome was I only hoped that I would have the strength to accept it.
Sender: Beneboy
“St. Therese’s relics will be at sta. teresita parish at mayon st. q.c. mass and exposure wil be at 10am. Sana makapunta kau”
A famous bar reviewer once told us that “If you’re an atheist, you will find your religion during the bar exams.”
“Lahat ng santo tatawagin nyo. Kahit si sta. mesa at si st. cinnamon tatawagin nyo.”
At this point I am bordering on, wait, I am already desperate and depressed. I have not found a job yet and I have been job hunting since late October. I had long dropped my pride and asked relatives if they can refer me to a job and started applying for positions requiring lower qualifications. I can already feel the enormous pressure and I didn’t want to be called a bum and I hate the feeling of having to ask for allowance at my age.
The strain of waiting for the results of the bar exams is also bearing down on me, with every text message received from other barristers I feel a small shudder before opening it that it might be the news I was dreading to hear.
I don’t remember going to the Sta. Tersita Parish to visit the relics but I do remember visiting St. Jude in Malacanang during the waiting period. I am a practicing catholic, I go to church every Sunday, I pray the rosary every night. I think it was my faith that helped me survive those long arduous period in my life. I remembered my prayers back then was ended with “your will be done” and “help me accept the things I cannot change”. But secretly (if that’s even possible with God) I wanted to directly ask for me to pass the bar exams, even how selfish it might sound.
Whatever the outcome was I only hoped that I would have the strength to accept it.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Five on Five oh! Ayaw pa umuwi e!
January 25, 2008, 6:05 p.m.
Sender: Syd
“San ka? daan ka area? DOTA!”
Someone said “Men don’t stop playing with toys, their toys just gets bigger and more expensive.”
My love affair with computer games started when I bought my first pirated copy of Heroes of Might and Magic back in high school. I remembered secretly installing it to my old pc which was for study purpose only and playing the game for hours on end. I was hooked. In first year college I found out that Abogwapo, Geist and Syd also shared common interest in computer games. The hottest game back then was Quake II, a first person shooter (FPS) game were the object of the game is to acquire weapons to shoot your opponents and proceed to laugh at their expense for being a noob (newbie or bano, its also synonymous with edson and dulay) then a far superior FPS game came out, Half-Life with superior graphics and a host of never before seen weapons and gameplay.
Everything changed when Starcraft was released. A Real Time Strategy (RTS) game where you select one of three unique alien races, build your base, and train your army to defeat the opposing team. This game filled our afternoons and emptied our allowances during college. A lot of side stories emerged playing this game, from the KCE and EBS strategy, the time when we left boy plano and beehlyn to themselves so that we can play the game which eventually led to their budding relationship, the time that me and Geist decided to play up to 10 p.m. despite the fact that we had midterm exams the next morning where we got the HIGHEST scores, the epic one on one between syd and rocco and a lot of other inside jokes developed because of this game.
To play these games with your friends one needed to go to any internet café shops that offer Local Area Network (LAN) games. Our first hangouts were a small computer shops in P. Noval, Asturias and another shop in Espana. We then heard of a computer shop tucked in a condominium building in P. Noval named I-link. The most popular game then was Counter-Strike, a modification of the Half-Life game where it pits two opposing forces the terrorists and counter-terrorists for an all out last man standing gun battle. This is where I met with my new set of pro-gamer friends and acquaintances. I-link became a popular computer shop back in the day that it came to a point that you needed to reserve a spot hours before your intended play time since the place was always full. It also helped that we developed a rapport with the shop owner and we became “preferred” customers so we didn’t have to line up for reservation.
This was also the site of the first gaming tournament we joined. Our team was composed of Abogwapo who used the handle Novice, Geist, Syd as Pink5 (see the pattern developing?) Me using the handle <:;:;:)=B@ckSt@B and two new recruits Jubei and Seifer. Our team was called BonuStage because of our reputation of being the noisiest and rowdiest team in the shop. Well, we eventually lost that tournament and few more others after that but at the same time we became one of the most popular team in the shop.
Around 2003, I-link closed its doors and we had to look for a temporary hangout, fortunately just next door to i-link there were other shops called amber.net and i-cue and we took over the place. If you’re into the gaming lifestyle, you will learn that each computer shop has its own “house team” or regulars. Because of this we felt like “squatters” at that time since Amber and i-cue was not our regular shop. A few months later we were excited to hear that a new shop named AREA-77 would open where i-link had left and to make it better the owner, Mars was a classmate of Abogwapo and Geist in law school. Yes, we were already law students and still we had time to play computer games. The shop owner was extremely lucky because a new game had just been released and he rode the wave of its popularity all the way to the bank. The game is the popular massively-multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg) called Ragnarok. I personally didn’t play Ragnarok because I’m not a real fan of mmorpg’s since those games require you to sit in front of the computer for hours to make your character stronger. Since we were in law school at the time we didn’t have the luxury of time that we had back in college. Back then we called ourselves part-time students. We only played games that gave you a quick fix like Starcraft since an ordinary game would normally last only one hour or counterstrike where you can leave the game anytime.
Real life would catch up on us again around 2005 since Mars would get married and would be going home to live with his wife in their province. Area 77 would eventually close its doors again but this time we were again fortunate since a new computer shop opened where i-cue had operated. The new shop is called AMS and this is where you will regularly find me and other Professional-Gamers on a Saturday night playing Defense of the Ancients (DotA). When I say “Professional-Gamers” I don’t refer to those persons who play games for a living in tournaments but I refer to the persons who were students like me before who are now gainfully employed as professionals in their particular field or successful businessmen who still share the passion for computer games.
Every time I hear someone arguing that computer games is bad for students, I just smile at them but I wont bother rebuking them because they are obviously generalizing or misinformed. The general rule is “EVERYTHING excessive is bad for you.” I only have to look at myself and my friends to see that these gamers are now lawyers, architects, nurses, computer engineers, businessmen and other professionals in their chosen field. I would personally attest that if I didn’t have games I would have not survived law school and the bar preparation stage because playing games is my outlet to “detoxify” myself (and spongebob squarepants of course). How long will I keep playing games? I really can’t answer that now. Maybe in the future, but…..
Starcraft II is coming out soon. =p
Sender: Syd
“San ka? daan ka area? DOTA!”
Someone said “Men don’t stop playing with toys, their toys just gets bigger and more expensive.”
My love affair with computer games started when I bought my first pirated copy of Heroes of Might and Magic back in high school. I remembered secretly installing it to my old pc which was for study purpose only and playing the game for hours on end. I was hooked. In first year college I found out that Abogwapo, Geist and Syd also shared common interest in computer games. The hottest game back then was Quake II, a first person shooter (FPS) game were the object of the game is to acquire weapons to shoot your opponents and proceed to laugh at their expense for being a noob (newbie or bano, its also synonymous with edson and dulay) then a far superior FPS game came out, Half-Life with superior graphics and a host of never before seen weapons and gameplay.
Everything changed when Starcraft was released. A Real Time Strategy (RTS) game where you select one of three unique alien races, build your base, and train your army to defeat the opposing team. This game filled our afternoons and emptied our allowances during college. A lot of side stories emerged playing this game, from the KCE and EBS strategy, the time when we left boy plano and beehlyn to themselves so that we can play the game which eventually led to their budding relationship, the time that me and Geist decided to play up to 10 p.m. despite the fact that we had midterm exams the next morning where we got the HIGHEST scores, the epic one on one between syd and rocco and a lot of other inside jokes developed because of this game.
To play these games with your friends one needed to go to any internet café shops that offer Local Area Network (LAN) games. Our first hangouts were a small computer shops in P. Noval, Asturias and another shop in Espana. We then heard of a computer shop tucked in a condominium building in P. Noval named I-link. The most popular game then was Counter-Strike, a modification of the Half-Life game where it pits two opposing forces the terrorists and counter-terrorists for an all out last man standing gun battle. This is where I met with my new set of pro-gamer friends and acquaintances. I-link became a popular computer shop back in the day that it came to a point that you needed to reserve a spot hours before your intended play time since the place was always full. It also helped that we developed a rapport with the shop owner and we became “preferred” customers so we didn’t have to line up for reservation.
This was also the site of the first gaming tournament we joined. Our team was composed of Abogwapo who used the handle Novice, Geist, Syd as Pink5 (see the pattern developing?) Me using the handle <:;:;:)=B@ckSt@B and two new recruits Jubei and Seifer. Our team was called BonuStage because of our reputation of being the noisiest and rowdiest team in the shop. Well, we eventually lost that tournament and few more others after that but at the same time we became one of the most popular team in the shop.
Around 2003, I-link closed its doors and we had to look for a temporary hangout, fortunately just next door to i-link there were other shops called amber.net and i-cue and we took over the place. If you’re into the gaming lifestyle, you will learn that each computer shop has its own “house team” or regulars. Because of this we felt like “squatters” at that time since Amber and i-cue was not our regular shop. A few months later we were excited to hear that a new shop named AREA-77 would open where i-link had left and to make it better the owner, Mars was a classmate of Abogwapo and Geist in law school. Yes, we were already law students and still we had time to play computer games. The shop owner was extremely lucky because a new game had just been released and he rode the wave of its popularity all the way to the bank. The game is the popular massively-multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg) called Ragnarok. I personally didn’t play Ragnarok because I’m not a real fan of mmorpg’s since those games require you to sit in front of the computer for hours to make your character stronger. Since we were in law school at the time we didn’t have the luxury of time that we had back in college. Back then we called ourselves part-time students. We only played games that gave you a quick fix like Starcraft since an ordinary game would normally last only one hour or counterstrike where you can leave the game anytime.
Real life would catch up on us again around 2005 since Mars would get married and would be going home to live with his wife in their province. Area 77 would eventually close its doors again but this time we were again fortunate since a new computer shop opened where i-cue had operated. The new shop is called AMS and this is where you will regularly find me and other Professional-Gamers on a Saturday night playing Defense of the Ancients (DotA). When I say “Professional-Gamers” I don’t refer to those persons who play games for a living in tournaments but I refer to the persons who were students like me before who are now gainfully employed as professionals in their particular field or successful businessmen who still share the passion for computer games.
Every time I hear someone arguing that computer games is bad for students, I just smile at them but I wont bother rebuking them because they are obviously generalizing or misinformed. The general rule is “EVERYTHING excessive is bad for you.” I only have to look at myself and my friends to see that these gamers are now lawyers, architects, nurses, computer engineers, businessmen and other professionals in their chosen field. I would personally attest that if I didn’t have games I would have not survived law school and the bar preparation stage because playing games is my outlet to “detoxify” myself (and spongebob squarepants of course). How long will I keep playing games? I really can’t answer that now. Maybe in the future, but…..
Starcraft II is coming out soon. =p
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Are we beer?
January 18, 2008, 7:11 p.m.
Sender: Hubs
“Are we beer?"
First off let me introduce to you one of my good friend from my pro-gaming circle. I present to you the only barong wearing emo in ortigas, HUBS. I think he’s one of the few persons who can carry wearing a barong with skinny jeans.
Back to topic,
If batman had the bat-signal and the thundercats have Lion O’s sword as a convenient way to summon your allies to be at your side we have “Are we beer?” or simply “Bir?” It’s actually an open invitation and you are free to accept or decline depending on your personal commitments. The exception of course is if you happen to commit the mistake of hitching a ride in Abogwapo’s ride then you are trapped in a one-way trip. Believe me it has happened to me more than once when he would lull you into complacency by seemingly slowing down to your intended drop-off point then suddenly accelerating towards the general direction of Timog laughing all the way, classic case of kidnapping hehehehe.
Our usual watering hole at the time was a bar (God, I hated that word) near ABS-CBN. We liked that place since it offered good service and relatively the cheapest package/promo in the area. A good number of regular pretty employees coming from ABS and surrounding call centers help also. (Syd, stop pointing the finger of judgment on me, I’m single remember and your not bwahahahaha!) *ehem.
Since we were already regulars at that place we also enjoyed special perks from the waiters. We often got a free bucket of beers or one free dish from the waiters (in exchange for a generous tip of course). But one of the best experience we had there was on a day it seemed a lot of people were thirsty and it was payday. The place was full with waiting customers outside waiting to be seated. We just arrived at the place and saw that the place was full. We quickly signaled one of our regular waiter that we wanted to get in. He gave us a signal and we entered the place like we were some big shot VIPs passing by the waiting crowd outside who gave us annoyed looks. Apparently the waiter set up a new table for us to use and strategically moved the electric fans to face our direction and lowered the volume of the sound system to our specifications. Talk about quality service, huh?
The place moved to a larger location last year to accommodate its growing customers and fortunately they retained our regular waiters so we still enjoy the same privileges up to now and a few more “upgraded” perks. But that’s another story.
Are we beer?
Sender: Hubs
“Are we beer?"
First off let me introduce to you one of my good friend from my pro-gaming circle. I present to you the only barong wearing emo in ortigas, HUBS. I think he’s one of the few persons who can carry wearing a barong with skinny jeans.
Back to topic,
If batman had the bat-signal and the thundercats have Lion O’s sword as a convenient way to summon your allies to be at your side we have “Are we beer?” or simply “Bir?” It’s actually an open invitation and you are free to accept or decline depending on your personal commitments. The exception of course is if you happen to commit the mistake of hitching a ride in Abogwapo’s ride then you are trapped in a one-way trip. Believe me it has happened to me more than once when he would lull you into complacency by seemingly slowing down to your intended drop-off point then suddenly accelerating towards the general direction of Timog laughing all the way, classic case of kidnapping hehehehe.
Our usual watering hole at the time was a bar (God, I hated that word) near ABS-CBN. We liked that place since it offered good service and relatively the cheapest package/promo in the area. A good number of regular pretty employees coming from ABS and surrounding call centers help also. (Syd, stop pointing the finger of judgment on me, I’m single remember and your not bwahahahaha!) *ehem.
Since we were already regulars at that place we also enjoyed special perks from the waiters. We often got a free bucket of beers or one free dish from the waiters (in exchange for a generous tip of course). But one of the best experience we had there was on a day it seemed a lot of people were thirsty and it was payday. The place was full with waiting customers outside waiting to be seated. We just arrived at the place and saw that the place was full. We quickly signaled one of our regular waiter that we wanted to get in. He gave us a signal and we entered the place like we were some big shot VIPs passing by the waiting crowd outside who gave us annoyed looks. Apparently the waiter set up a new table for us to use and strategically moved the electric fans to face our direction and lowered the volume of the sound system to our specifications. Talk about quality service, huh?
The place moved to a larger location last year to accommodate its growing customers and fortunately they retained our regular waiters so we still enjoy the same privileges up to now and a few more “upgraded” perks. But that’s another story.
Are we beer?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Bar Blues
January 17, 2008, 3:17 p.m.
Sender: Beneboy
“Bro, my possibility dw na dis feb ang labas eithr last week or march 1st-2nd wik…maaga tau mgagiging mga lawyers he he.”
The Bar Season is actually one year divided into three parts. The Bar Review normally from April to August, The Bar Exams held during the month of September and The Bar Results from October to March. Each part has its own source of stress, The Bar Review is the stress of preparation. The Bar Exams is the stress of the exam and The Bar results is the stress of waiting for an unknown.
I’m at the third stage, and the agony of waiting for the results will take a mental and psychological toll on you. Texts like this only amplifies frustration since it reminds you of impending doom without offering you anything concrete to hang on to. During the wait you will receive different variations of this text but the bottom line is, no one knows the actual date of release of the results except the Supreme Court. I think its something systemic to spread the fear and frustration amongst the barristers. Misery loves company, right?
What you need to do is to try to distract yourself like focusing on your work (which I didn’t have), find a GF (not yet in the the proper mindset), or find a hobby (reading books is my hobby and I’ve just had enough reading for the moment). The start of my year was a very bad one and I was already dreading the fact that it might even get worst. I was really hoping that I had reached the bottom so I can finally rebound.
Sender: Beneboy
“Bro, my possibility dw na dis feb ang labas eithr last week or march 1st-2nd wik…maaga tau mgagiging mga lawyers he he.”
The Bar Season is actually one year divided into three parts. The Bar Review normally from April to August, The Bar Exams held during the month of September and The Bar Results from October to March. Each part has its own source of stress, The Bar Review is the stress of preparation. The Bar Exams is the stress of the exam and The Bar results is the stress of waiting for an unknown.
I’m at the third stage, and the agony of waiting for the results will take a mental and psychological toll on you. Texts like this only amplifies frustration since it reminds you of impending doom without offering you anything concrete to hang on to. During the wait you will receive different variations of this text but the bottom line is, no one knows the actual date of release of the results except the Supreme Court. I think its something systemic to spread the fear and frustration amongst the barristers. Misery loves company, right?
What you need to do is to try to distract yourself like focusing on your work (which I didn’t have), find a GF (not yet in the the proper mindset), or find a hobby (reading books is my hobby and I’ve just had enough reading for the moment). The start of my year was a very bad one and I was already dreading the fact that it might even get worst. I was really hoping that I had reached the bottom so I can finally rebound.
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