10.26.2005

More Halloween Party Pics

And here're more pictures...





2nd Annual 4J Halloween Party

Here are a few of the many pictures taken during the 2nd Annual 4J Halloween Party held last Saturday at Jay Tan's house. For copies of the original-sized pictures, e-mail/text me. For those with other pictures of the party, please upload yours too.





10.10.2005

Gambling, 4J-Style



Last Saturday night, we had a pretty good first run of the 4J Texas Hold 'Em poker game. Of course, it was almost the 4J Midnight Texas Hold 'Em poker game since we watched The 40-Year Old Virgin at Rockwell first and grabbed a bite of dinner after.

Held at Budoy's house, the players were Budoy, Elena, Conci (sponsor ng gambling chips), [identity-protected] and myself. Watching were TC and Tini (sponsor ni Conci). AA and Molly, RJ and Leslie, and Dino were supposed to go but unfortunately weren't able to make it.

The first round was for the money while the second was for fun. For the money round, there was a contributor's pot of a hundred bucks so the top prize was 500 pesos. The goal of the game was: the person to win all the chips wins the round.

At first there were a lot of gaffes and mistakes as everyone got the hang of the game though Budoy, Conci, and Elena kept everyone honest. Likewise, Budoy's friend Dan kept a clear eye on the proceedings. However, once everyone got the rules, it was more or less smooth running.

Unfortunately, the night turned into a ladies' match with first myself and then later, Budoy, getting eliminated. The three ladies battled it out but Conci had to drop out so the outcome of the game was left between Elena and [identity-protected]. In the end, [identity-protected] had the better cards and she took the money round.

The chips were re-distributed for the fun round and the game started off in earnest. However, the fact that there was no money involved had chips flying fast and furious and when the smoke cleared, Budoy was out of chips and out of the game. I was next despite being more cautious this time around and again, it was left to the ladies to determine who would win this match.

Elena lost a particular heavy hand and had to bow out of the game-- and out of the night together with TC. For a moment, the chips were moving back and forth between [identity-protected] and Conci (with a little help from Tini). Unfortunately, Conci gambled on a particular hand by betting it all-- and lost, leaving [identity-protected] as the champion for the First 4J Texas Hold 'Em card game.

Anyway, the next round will probably be this weekend so if you guys wanna have some fun while losing money, show up with your hundred bucks. The venue will probably be either my place or Budoy's but hopefully, a little earlier. So sign up and sound off!

P.S. Ooops, thanks to Conci, I was reminded that half-way thru the fun and games, one of the house' more spiritual residents (i.e. a ghost of a girl) decided to play a prank with us by palming one of the chips. So far, we still haven't found the missing chip. What, you didn't know Budoy's house was haunted?

P.P.S. Thanks also to [identity-protected] for reminding me that Elena doesn't bluff. Of course TC just had to say that Elena also doesn't know how to fake it. That and his 'tongue-lashing' action added an ewww factor to the night.

10.03.2005

On Salgado and Santos

There really isn't that much to discuss when looking back at FEU's rout of DLSU last Thursday. It was an exciting, close game which FEU won, fair and square.

Even the incident with Manny Salgado was an open-and-shut deal. Purportedly with the intent of pacifying FEU's Arwind Santos and DLSU's Joseph Yeo, who were engaged in a little post-game trash talking, ran up to them and ended up whacking Santos upside the head, earning for himself a lifetime ban from ever again watching a live UAAP game.

I guess the reason to even write about it is the fact that I was kind of shocked to see just how old Salgado is. I remember back in high school and college when Xander Lao accompanied the UAAP team as manager or assistant manager, or something like that (I'm pretty sure he wasn't a ball boy). I figured, upon reading about the incident, that Salgado was around that age and was floored to see his now infamous slap captured in still photographs on the front page of a popular daily.

There have been enough opinions written by sports columnists on how inexcusable Salgado's behavior was, and so I am content to agree with them, but I can't help but shake my head about how seriously some people tend to take these games, even championship ones.

Remember the fisticuffs between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, which had Detroit players punching out unruly fans? I think it's some kind of testimony to Santos' composure that he didn't lash back at the old man, especially considering his so-called professional counterparts several continents away couldn't contain their anger.

For God's sake, IT'S JUST A GAME. That said, the lifetime ban on Salgado is rather appropriate punishment. It might not have been if he had been younger and his volatile temperament therefore a little more understandable given the whole championship thing, but he was no kid and should therefore have known exactly what he was in for when he pulled that stunt.