i've an idea

for a website. yes yes i know the dot com meltdown and everything. but this is good.
living in (well, very near at least) silicon valley has shown me some of the energy of the late 90s. best of all, it isn't something that relies on any one person's effort. it'll be a team thing.
the project will need an incubation period till it becomes known and featured in wired and time magazine. But interested participants can make some money off of it. here's the $2 billion dollar idea out for everyone to see and steal (i mean the random blog readers not the 4jers)

no not a dating website. there are enough of those. it's a "dating analysis" thing. there's a lot of people who wish they were mindreaders or at least understand what their date is trying to tell them whether overtly or discretely. i'm proposing that people will go to our website and post their problem re: their date. then, like in a sports game where there's an analysis of the play, people will write in and give their opinion.

example:

============================================

My question is now that my dates are going ok with her, how do I get her to show more initiative? She's willing to do pretty much anything I suggest, but getting her to initiate plans is a rarety. Same goes with physical contact, she's down for whatever..but I'm always the one to get it started. Don't get me wrong, by no means am I overwhelming her with date proposals, or affection...but I'm at a point where I want her to "stroke my ego" a little by making the first move, and making a brother feel desired. I'm sure plenty of readers out there can relate (hopefully I'm not the only one). I'm not asking for a magic word or anything, but there has to be some solution here..this girl has definitely got long term potential but this nonchalant thing is working my last nerves. An answer to this question would take my game to the next level. What say you??

>>>COMMENTS:
#1 PROFESSIONAL OPINION
It's attractive to women when a man leads, so if it's working for you, then keep it up.

#2 PROFESSIONAL OPINION
The only time they'll do that is if they are wild about you. Right now she's not THAT into you. Give her some space, but that alone may not work. jealousy is a powerful emotion. if you have the skills to use this, that's what i would suggest.

#3 PROFESSIONAL OPINION
if she's hot, then she gets offers ALL THE TIME from men, and she is completely used to the idea of men offering her things, calling her, etc.
It might just be that her model of the world revolves around this idea.

#1 LAYMAN'S OPINION
if things are going so well, then who cares about "her showing initiative"?=============================================

naturally the site will be for men and women.we'll have "professional opinions" and also laymen's opinions on what the guy / gal should do. the professionals can be "promoted" from 'laymen' status if they display wit or maturity or game.
of course, it is all dependent on the writers. the written opinions have to be good. the writers have to have game or be mature or at least be funny, like FHM or Maxim funny. for men, we can call the subsection the "the stud farm" or the "play-ah operat-ah" for women how about "the mindreader"

here's another example

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What do you do in a situation where you have set up a coffee date with a woman and she blows you off by not showing up? The problem specifically is how do you react when you see this woman again. I work out in a local gym and had asked one of the personal trainers to coffee. However, I was stood up and I see her everyday. Would you respond by ignoring her ( which seems childish and behaving in the immature manner she treated me by not respecting me and my time) or by talking to her ( and thereby acting like a spineless wimp) ? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

>>> COMMENTS:
#1 PROFESSIONAL OPINION

I want to answer your question FIRST with another question:
WHO'S PROBLEM IS IT THAT SHE BLEW YOU OFF AND FLAKED?
It all depends on your perspective.
When a woman flakes out on me, I see it as a HUGE mistake that SHE made.
So if/when I see her again, I shake my head in disappointment and say "Well you sure missed out on a good time"Don't let it bother you. Just move on. Many women are flakes.

suggested topics:

a. getting a woman who was interested in you (but not anymore) back

so is it worth a coupl'a bucks?

national disgrace

i like #2 and #3

The following are all true news excerpts from the African press inSouth Africa, Swaziland, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

1. The Cape Times (Cape Town)"I have promised to keep his identity confidential,' said Jack Maxim, a spokeswoman for the Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg, "but I can confirm that he is no longer in our employment". "We asked him to clean the lifts and he spent four days on the job. When I asked him why, he replied:Well, there are forty of them, two on each floor, and sometimes some of them aren't there'. Eventually, we realised that he thought each floor had a different lift, and he'd cleaned the same two twelve times. "We had to let him go. It seemed best all round. I understand he is now working for GE Lighting."

2. The Star (Johannesburg):"The situation is absolutely under control," Transport Minister
Ephraem Magagula told the Swaziland parliament in Mbabane. "Our nation's merchant navy is perfectly safe. We just don't know where it is, that's all."Replying to an MP's question, Minister Magagula admitted that the landlocked country had completely lost track of its only ship, the Swazimar: "We believe it is in a sea somewhere. At one time, we sent a team of men to look for it, but there was a problem with drink and they failed to find it, and so, technically, yes, we've lost it a bit. But I categorically reject all suggestions of incompetence on the part of this government. The Swazimar is a big ship painted in the sort of nice bright colours you can see at night. Mark my words, it will turn up. The right honourable gentleman opposite is a very naughty man, and he will laugh on the other side of his face when my ship comes in."

3. The Standard (Kenya):"What is all the fuss about?" Weseka Sambu asked a hastily convened news conference at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. "A technical hitch like this could have happened anywhere in the world. You people are not patriots. You just want to cause trouble." Sambu, a spokesman for Kenya Airways, was speaking after the cancellation of a through flight from Kisumu, via Jomo Kenyatta, to Berlin: "The forty-two passengers had boarded the plane ready for take-off, when the pilot noticed one of the tyres was flat. Kenya Airways did not possess a spare tyre, and unfortunately the airport nitrogen canister was empty. A passenger suggested taking the tyre to a petrol station for inflation, but unluckily the jack had gone missing so we couldn't get the wheel off. Our engineers tried heroically to reinflate the tyre with a bicycle pump, but had no luck, and the pilot even blew into the valve with his mouth, but he passed out. "When I announced that the flight had to be abandoned, one of the passengers, Mr Mutu, suddenly struck me about the face with a life-jacket whistle and said we were a national disgrace. I told him he was beingridiculous, and that there was to be another flight in a fortnight. And, in the meantime, he would be able to enjoy the scenery around Kisumu, albeit at his own expense."

4. From a Zimbabwean newspaper: While transporting mental patients from Harareto Bulawayo, the bus driver stopped at a roadside shebeen (beerhall) for a few beers. When he got back to his vehicle, he found it empty, with the 20 patients nowhere to be seen. Realizing the trouble he was in if the truth were uncovered, he halted his bus at the next bus stop and offered lifts to those in the queue. Letting 20 people board, he then shut the doors and drove straight to the Bulawayo mental hospital, where he hastily handed over his "charges', warning the nurses that they were particularly excitable. Staff removed the furious passengers; it was three days later that suspicions were roused by the consistency of stories from the 20. As for the real patients: nothing more has been heard of them and they have apparently blended comfortably back into Zimbabwean society.

4J's Role in My Passing the Bar

When I first found out about the bar results last Friday, the temptation to write the Oscar speech I'll probably never deliver was awesome.

But I then got to thinking: the j-boys had a big enough role in my success in the 2004 bar exams to merit their own post. From that somber night on April 2, 2004 that TC, Bob and Jay converged at my place to help me drown my sorrows in booze to last Friday, April 8, 2005, when Theia and I met up with Tini, Jay, his brother Carlo, R-Jay, Rhochie, Joey, TC, Elena, and even Dino (!) 4j has really been a presence this past bar that helped spell the difference between a half-assed second attempt and a full-steam ahead, no-holds-barred assault on all eight subjects of the most important examination an aspiring lawyer will ever face. There are, truth be told, a lot of people to thank outside our circle as well, but the j-boys, in their own way, really came through for one of their own, I have to say.

I can even articulate exactly what it was that made the difference, because the same goes more or less for everyone in my immediate circle. You see, in 2003, for one reason or another it was some kind of given that I would pass the bar. It was a matter of course, an inevitability, and so on and so forth. There were well wishes all around, but for some reason I had managed to cultivate a myth of my academic invincibility and so no one really believed it possible that I could fail.

And so, when I did, it caught just about everyone (except, maybe me) off guard, and the net result was that when I fell (and fell hard), everyone gathered around to help lift me up. It was amazing. There weren't any more lame jokes about how, if my name wasn't on the list we would write it there. There weren't any more cliched, slightly patronizing remarks like "was there ever any doubt?" The possibility of failure, from being unthinkable, had transformed into a reality, and while it was my battle to fight (and win), everyone, 4j included, knew they would have to help out somehow. And, well, you guys did. The outpouring of moral support was pretty much astonishing.

Thanks for the booze. Thanks for the parties. THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME ONTO THIS BLOG, which really helped me blow off some SERIOUS STEAM in the last few months leading up to what now feels like my greatest personal triumph EVER. Thanks for everything, guys.

4J FOREVER!!!

interior
BloggerBot by Ryan

the jag
BloggerBot by Ryan

my pimp car

a korean automobile wouldn't be a top choice among car buyers but it is the best deal in the market because they are trying to beat the japanese at their own game by offering good products at a good price. in a country where car servicing costs $$$ a 10 year powertrain warranty sure comes in handy.lower total ownership cost is one thing but the hyundai sonata ("recommended" by car and driver magazine) is in the same class as the accord, camry and maxima. (i'm told it's roomier)
it came down to a choice between this and a civic. the civic had a utilitarian interior and was equipped with a 5 speed manual transmission. the sonata was far more elegant in comparison with a plush interior fabric (though the picture doesn't show it off well) and was a "shiftronic" automatic (the new fangled manual/automatic)
what finally clinched the deal was the price. it was cheaper than the civic, the corolla and the new mazda3 (the new mazda's pretty cool, though) it's not a jaguar, but i got more bang for my buck. now if only i could r-e-a-l-ly afford it rather than just worrying about the next car payment.

Beer's being chilled

Agh. I'm sorry I wasn't able to join you guys last Friday, and sorry on a personal note to you, Jay, for snapping at you when you called to give the invite.

It is a matter of days---days!---now till I find out if I can take my lawyer's oath this year. Gone are the months and the weeks. All the benchmarks I used last year to mark the time, like Christmas, the Oscars, Holy Week (which admittedly came after the results last year) have come and gone, and I'm still hanging on, but just barely.

I was somehow able to muddle through yesterday, but of all the confounded things to be saddled with I now have a surprisingly esoteric case on my plate right now, so work is, well, somehow not alleviating the tension.

On a happy note, I finally got my name included on the list of employees who has a reserved seat on our Quezon City-bound shuttle bus. I found myself taken aback that for some reason, the person who had put me on the list saw fit to call me "Atty. Jimmy Arroyo." (I know; who the hell calls me Jimmy, right?)

Seriously, though, to have people just assume that I'm a lawyer this close to the moment of truth terrifies and at the same time exhilarates me. More than anything right now, I just want to find out how I did. Never mind what I think might be riding on this. Never mind what I poured into it. Like so many people have correctly reminded me, it's in God's hands and has been for awhile, so it makes the most sense to offer it all up to Him, as I have been doing every time I put my hands together in prayer.

Well, there's some beer in the chiller, it being the drink for all occasions (if you know what I mean), but the champagne is still on hold. We'll see about the bubbly on Friday...

GOOD FRIDAY

There was no occassion.

No one coming home. No one's birthday. No one leaving town. No one having a monumental announcement to make. Just a simple gathering. One we hadn't had in a while. Which is weird, considering that we saw each other almost every other week for a certain stretch of time.

The boys got together again last Friday after a long hiatus. We met up in Rockwell's Good Earth Roast for some beer and some chinese cuisine. In attendance were Sonny, Joey, Rhochie, Tini, Ching, R-Jay, Jigs, TC, AA and Aljay, Sara and her "sisters", myself, Dino and Philip with his new girlfriend in tow.

It was more of the same. Joey and I trading barbs about baldness and blubber. (Insert and 4J boy's name here) insulting Tini. R-Jay's sexual orientation being put into question yet again. Good times. Good times.

We raised a glass to Jim and his upcoming bar results. To Sandy and the new chapter in his young career. And to the Pope. And we thought we had no redeeming value.

BTW, 4J summer special on April 16 and 17 or on Labor Day weekend. More on this story as it develops.

Here's to the next time. May it come sooner than later.