09-05-13
Winston "Arf-Arf" Arpon
PMA '64
In This Corner: Manny
& Ricky & Vlady & Chucky & Glory
& Ricky & Vlady & Chucky & Glory
My friend and I, we realize that for our friendship to last, it is important that we commit ourselves to this common ground: build and nurture our relationship in such a manner that she and I speak with one voice.
Hers.
ooOoo
What else is new? It’s still a case of good news and bad news.
The good news: Today is Thursday and per our self-imposed schedule well-designed to meet our deadline (see 09-04-22WTW/”Bok or Mistah, Ka or Cavalier, Iking or Enriquez, Bravo or Bud Daho; What’s In a Name?”), this is the day we should be starting to do the first draft of WTW, so it is downhill all the way for the rest of the schedule for the week, as laid out by my friend: “finish it on Monday, so you have Tuesday to edit and polish, then send it out Wednesday.”
The bad news: That should have been Thursday last week.
ooOoo
But as always, don’t blame us. Blame them:
Manny, a.k.a. Emmanuel D. Pacquiao;
Ricky, a.k.a. Richard John Hatton;
Vlady, or Vlad or Vrad, a.k.a. Cavalier Vladimir S. Punto ‘74;
Chucky, or Charlie or Chuck, a.k.a. Cavalier Carlos L. Agustin ‘59; and,
Glory, a.k.a. PGMA, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
As you can see later, they all conspired, wittingly or unwittingly, for this unavoidable delay. End of story…
ooOoo
Even so, we draw some encouragement from the kind suggestion of Cavalier Harold Ochoco ’81 for another view of WTW: readers, like him, Willing To Wait because we are Willing To Write.
Or can we suggest this view – Worth The Wait?
ooOoo
Item, Reader’s Digest, May 2009: Most respondents to the latest global survey on eternal life are just fine with their limited shelf life here on earth. (But) two surprises: in the Philippines everyone over 45 wants life everlasting; in China not a single older survey-taker does.
What an interesting conversation we wish it would be among PMAyers, and we think it would unfold like this:
Cavalier Arturo Vidad ’81: I have said it once and I say it again, the Philippines is the best country in the world, bar none. No wonder these Filipino respondents want to live here forever.
Cavalier Danilo Jimenez ’77: On the contrary. Haven’t they been waiting for too long, their only chance to see a better Philippines, if ever, is to live forever?
Cavalier Leopoldo “Pol” Aliac ’67: Are you sure, the respondents weren’t Filipino-Americans or Filipinos awaiting their US immigrant visa?
Cavalier Virgilio “Bill” Bas ‘60: Maybe, they did not understand the question. Was it in English, Filipino or Chinese? Or Cebuano?
Cavalier Agapito “Pitong/Peythong” Heredia ’70: C’mon guys. Malaya, maybe, or Tiktik. But you don’t believe the Reader’s Digest, do you?
Cavalier Fernando “Butch” Baltazar ’81: Gentlemen of the Corps, if you please. The King’s English or the English language, or any language for that matter, is an imperfect one and subject to misinterpretations; we may be better served if we establish a few parameters for our discussion.
Cavalier Warren Lee ’97: May I butt in?
ooOoo
Barack Obama is as popular as ever, despite Russ Limbaugh and company who continue to pillory the charismatic 44th POTUS.
The succession of graduation exercises in US colleges and universities in the months of May and June has only served to prove his popularity. Obama, it seems, is the number one choice as commencement speaker.
You can tell this to everyone, including the Marines, but please, not Notre Dame University, at least not the priests there and their followers and supporters. Together, they have scheduled “another” graduation in the university campus while Obama speaks at the “other”graduation, in protest of Obama’s backing of abortion and stem cell research.
Even Obama, winsome and handsome, has to play the game of ‘win some, hand some.’
ooOoo
An engineer, Cavalier Avelino “Lino” Noble ’63 is not prone to wishful thinking like we are, but he may have hit upon a very interesting, revealing thought on work ethics. It’s simply about “going to the office,” and “going to work.” Or roughly translated to Filipino, “papasok” and “magtratrabaho.”
If you had to choose, pick that employee that’s “going to work” or “magtratrabaho.”
No, Cavalier Arturo “Art” Vidad ‘81, neither Cavalier Noble nor we are making a distinction between Filipino and American of Filipino-American workers.
ooOoo
Malunggay, the good fruit, no political connotations, welcome. We were pleasantly surprised that it has appeared in the last week or so to be the hottest subject, at least in terms of the number of email threads, among PMA alumni in the internet.
Balimbing, good fruit but bad political connotations, move over. It would not surprise us to see that it may have already seen better days, after we have beaten it to death (see 09-04-22 WTW/”Bok or Mistah, Ka or Cavalier, Iking or Enriquez, Bravo or Bud Daho; What’s In a Name?”)
ooOoo
It was he who led us to the idea of and the ultimate decision on this week’s center-“piece” subject. Who else, but Cavalier Vladimir “Vlad/Vrad” Punto ’74 who continues, thankfully, to be a constant WTW inciter, insider, inquirer, informer and instigator – rolled into the one. Okay, add inspirer to the list.
“I just watched the P-H (Pacman v.Hitman) fight and I know you will do a line or two on this for the WTW,” he emailed us. But when he provided us with more jabs on the fight than the jabs Manny Paquiao delivered during the fight, more takes on the fight than What Hatton took during the fight, we knew then that a line or two would be the last thing on our mind.
ooOoo
As easy as his win was, Manny did struggle, Vlad observed. Thankfully, it was during the interview after his fight, Vlad thinks Manny needs someone in his “posse,” an English tutor who can help him add to his repertoire of “I mean” and “You know” for future interviews.
If Ricky himself is looking for a job, he may be available for the taking. Manny can afford to pay him, after that huge payout at MGM, not to mention PPV and continuing revenues from TV reruns, can’t he?
ooOoo
To put it in proper historical perspective – other than Vlad, I know of no one who has done this in logs or in blogs – Manny, in his last two fights, reached maturity in his boxing career. Last time, he beat a boy – GoldenBoy de la Hoya. This time, he beat a man – HitMan Hatton.
ooOoo
Ricky Hatton’s boxing career may have come full circle too. From Man Hitting to Man Being Hit. In both cases, Richard John Hatton, MBE/Member of the British Empire – to this day still embarrassed by his shocking loss – took it like a man.
ooOoo
We are inclined to agree with Cavalier Francisco “Mike” San Miguel ’51. The word has yet to make it to the English Language, but it will. The word is pacquiao, verb, derived from the Filipino/Tagalog word “pakyaw” meaning “take all.”
Followers of basketball, especially fans of the NBA and the Los Angeles Lakers, may have read this from the column of Bill Plaschke in The Los Angeles Times:
"Are they (Lakers) tough enough to win an NBA championship? For one night, they weren't even tough enough to beat a visiting 53-win team in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, losing, 100-92, to the Houston Rockets. Check that verb. They didn't lose, they were Pacquiao'ed." (Underscoring ours).
If Cavalier San Miguel and columnist Plasche are right, boondocks (from the Filipino/Tagalog word, bundok) may not be the last contribution of the Philippines to the world of etymology.
ooOoo
Manny Pacquiao made it to The World’s Most Influential People of The Time magazine, under the category, Heroes and Icons. The other categories were Leaders and Revolutionaries, Builders and Titans, Artists and Entertainers, Scientists and Thinkers.
Lennox Lewis, former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis who authored the piece on Pacquiao wrote that his fellow boxer is “carrying the hopes of his country in the ring” (and) “I can surely see Manny becoming the Philippine President one day.”
Apparently, Lennox is unaware that Pacquiao was knocked out when he ventured into the political ring in 2007, losing to Darlene Custodio. A non-boxer and a woman at that.
ooOoo
If Pacquiao continues with his budding acting and singing career, he could be in the Artists and Entertainers category.
ooOoo
The proposal of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to appoint Manny Pacquiao as Special Envoy for Intelligence? Not very intelligent.
The “no comment” from Cavalier Carlos “Chuck” Agustin ’59 and leaving it to us, as intelligence analyst in a previous life, to fall back on our “broad and basic military skill to grasp the significance of this new appointment?” Very intelligent on Cavalier Agustin’s part; not so intelligent on ours.
Consideration and approval of the proposal by Gonzalez’s boss, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo? Not very intelligent.
ooOoo
Memo to Justice Secretary Gonzalez and President Arroyo: Please watch out. Manny Pacquiao’s appointment as Special Envoy for Intelligence may be an insult to the people’s intelligence.
ooOoo
Then again, knowing that he just received a Dr. of Humanities from Southwestern University, how can we say that the good doctor is not qualified for the “ambassadorial” post?
Moreover, he is a Master Sergeant in the Reserve Force of the AFP, isn’t he?
And on the 73rd anniversary of the AFP, didn’t PGMA award him as well as 15 others with medals in recognition of their gallantry in the performance of their duties to advance peace, freedom, development and human security? (Thanks to WTW reader and friend Joe Dasbach and his camera the bona fide, a picture of PGMA and Pacquiao).
ooOoo
By email and Facebook, Boots, Levy and Chilla told us we were glad my DMV job, to which only they and two other NORCAListas were privy, is now out in the open (see 09-05-06 WTW/”Two Specters”).
On the same issue, we are thrilled that Cavalier Gil “Dong” Osorio x87 and WTW reader and friend Rosemarie “Rose” Ong thought, respectively, that it was an instant “classic” and a “masterpiece.”
Thinking witfully, er wishfully, can be contagious, thank you.
And our information is that neither Cavalier Osorio nor Ms. Ong has had access to a dictionary to look up the true meaning of the words, we see no danger that they are about to withdraw their kind words.
Pards, heaven exists on earth!
ooOoo
Thanks to the email, “WTW AWOL,” I just received, as we speak, from someone that signed only as “an avid reader.” I take this as a wake-up call. Rest assured that I may be slipping, but not sleeping.
And here are answers to your questions:
Yes, I am having fun finalizing the draft of this issue.
No, I did not get married.
No, I am not honeymooning.
Yes, you will see this week’s issue of WTW. Shortly. Very shortly.
Or my name is not Winston.
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@arf-arf ’64
wtw 09-19
http://blog.djlf.org/
deakins hall, Maryland