Finally. MY Day.

Well, more of my month actually.

It's like an extended Adrian day (to those unfamiliar with this term, it's that one day, the 24th of september, each year where absolutely nothing can go wrong for me. True, it may be psychological, but hey, it's still MY DAY.)

For the past few days I have been experiencing an almost complete reversal of Murphy's law. I feel like I could do nothing wrong, like Michael Jordan at the top of his game, or Mike Tyson before he started chomping on his opponents ears.

I'm in the zone. This is my month. My Year.
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Last Sunday, the Archers went up against the Eagles with all their guns blazing and just blew em away. Again.

But no. This post is NOT about how LaSalle was able to claw its way back from the final four grave, nor how the great Ateneo Blue Eagles were brought crashing down from the sky, nor on how LaSalle repeatedly humiliated the whole Ateneo community on national TV.

Nope. This post is about Me.
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Not to say that MY DAY is perfect. Not really.

For the first time since i could remember, it was raining hard on my birthday, I had a bit of a flu, and the bottle of champagne I opened that day was just awful.

But hey, thats not the point.

Point was I had fun, gorging on a steak dinner with my family, had a great time watching Footloose (kudos to you guys! Jay-R was great, Iya was H-O-T!! RRRrrrrRRrrrrRrrr HOT!!!) and had slices of each of JAck Loft's top cakes.

I was out to celebrate and nothing could keep me from enjoying myself.
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Last week, I got a surprise call from the GM's secretary. She asked that I go to the GM's office urgently. With a capital U.

A bit unsure, and fearing the worst, I dropped by and to my surprise, there was the GM, grinning broadly. Apparently, I just won an certain internal competition and was being awarded my brand new iPod!

Of course, I just had a quick pictorial, grabbed my iPod and almost forgot about the letter of congratulations from our ASEAN GM that came with it.

Seriously, im no musical enthusiast, but i'm happy.

I never won more than a few thousand pesoses worth of gift certificates from any raffle or contest and here I was holding a new iPod with my name engraved on it.

Life's best surprises really do come in mini little packages.
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Finally, earlier this month, my boss talked to me quite seriously. He asked me if I remembered about the lunch we had earlier this year wherein I outlined my whole 5-year plan from 2005 to 2010 and how I planned to move from where I am now, to the top of my list.

Well, he remembered. And told me he just recommended me for a move up to the position I outlined as my target in 2007.

And it got approved. Effective October 1, 2005.

I seriously didnt know how to react, but picking up my jaw from the floor seemed correct at that time. Considering that last year was one of the most difficult and trying times I've ever had in my career, this sudden godsend was just totally unexpected.

Finally, things are looking up!!!

Ateneo Bashing time :)

(Beware: Ateneans, read no further. This pertains to the 72-55 blowout of the Archers over the Eagles earlier)

Actually, it was a pretty exciting match. It was a close fight, with the Eagles going neck to neck against the Archers pretty much all throughout the game. They fought hard for each and every possession, creating run after run that made the crowd go wild.

Until Lasalle scored the first basket, that is.

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Ateneo should change their "One Big Fight" Slogan

..."Roll Over and Die" seems more appropriate
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Then again, they ARE improving.

They only lost by 17 points now.

Which means, next time they might even threaten to lose by only a single digit.
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It was pretty impressive though, their match against FEU. They basically manhandled the taller team.

But for some reason, their big guys couldn't seem to match up to the smaller Archer squad.

Norman Black must be pretty pissed at how easily his protege Franz Pumaren outweaseled him.

Again.
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I realized this during the halftime cheering break.

Is Ateneo the only PEP squad that doesnt have scantily clad, leggy female cheerleaders cavorting all around the court? They instead have a squad of male pep squad members and another squad of little boys doing Mini-Mes of the first squad.

No wonder their players arent inspired.

Well... except of course, the Pep squad's target audience.
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I mean, they even replaced hottie Chinnie Canievel with whatshername.

Sigh. No more reason to watch ateneo games on TV.
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Im sure of this: They have the referees in their hip pockets.

There was one instance of an idiotic Ateneo player bumping into a stationary Junjun Cabatu (think tennis ball hitting a brick wall) . Guess what? The referee slapped a foul on Cabatu.

Then in the spirit of the moment, Ryan Arana suddenly dances to the beat of "Go Lasalle! Go Go Lasalle Lasalle"... The referees immediately slap a technical foul on him.

I mean, who else would get offended besides pro-Ateneo flunkies?
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Anyway, theres still a chance for at least another Ateneo-Lasalle matchup. Im not sure, but if i do the math correctly, there are three possible matchups for the Final 4, depending on who wins in the DLSU-UE match.

If Lasalle wins vs UE by more than 2 points, the final 4 will be:
DLSU vs ADMU (DLSU with twice to beat advantage)
FEU vs UE (FEU with twice to beat advantage)

If Lasalle wins vs UE by only 1-2 points:
UE vs DLSU (UE with twice to beat advantage)
FEU vs ADMU (FEU with twice to beat advantage)

If DLSU loses to UE, the final 4 will be:
UE vs ADMU (UE with twice to beat advantage)
FEU vs DLSU (FEU with twice to beat advantage)

In these last two cases, DLSU and ADMU must beat FEU and UE respectively so that we could all enjoy another DLSU-ADMU championship matchup (and another DLSU Championship hehe)

Fun fun fun. Araneta still has a chance to make a killing. Wonder how the UE game will turn up :)