the Fourth Year
Posted in Family Affair on 25 April 2007 by RichmondToday is the fourth anniversary of my Mother’s death.
Today is the fourth anniversary of my Mother’s death.
I’ve been reading the newly constructed Slovenian Big Brother English website and I went to the forum.
I noticed that one of the hottest issue in the forum was about if Bruce would have sex inside the Slovenian house… if you’ll read the posted entries (which was written by the way mostly by Filipinos) they contain mostly of how Big Brother Philippines is different from the Slovenian, how “modesty” is carried out inside the Philippines and how proud we Filipinos are in having such a sensitive house and a morally upright TV program.
However, is this really the case?
I mean, when ABS-CBN first launched Pinoy Big Brother, did they really plan it to be this… this… uhm… should we say reserved compare to other foreign Big Brother houses?

(Photo unknowingly taken from www.grabeh.com/forum)
During the first season, the very first episodes of Pinoy Big Brother ran mostly on how the new housemates get undressed and dressed. Shower times were also aired. ABS CBN I should say followed the “liberated” trend of other houses around the globe that it even raved in the commercials about the controversial kissing scenes of Sam and Chx prior to its airing. They were in fact too excited to have the luau party (where the incident happened) aired. And I even remember that Big Brother even gave the housemates two bottles of red wine to get drunk and of course to start getting nasty. But after the suspension given by the MTRCB and the public cry for a cleaner primetime show, they started cleaning up their show and Big Brother became outright strict about what is appropriate and not, and they also started doing those charity tasks.

(Photo taken without permission from http://www.chikadora.com)
This sudden image change was even seen in Pinoy Big Brother’s use of its logos, the Big Brother logo and the “Eye”.
Besides the famous blue, oblong logo with the phrase “Big Brother” (Gran Hermano in Spanish Speaking countries) each Big Brother program sports its distinct eye logo. The eye I guess represents the no-privacy nature of each house… in short it symbolizes VOYEURISM.
As Pinoy Big Brother tries to clean up its image, Kuya also thought that the logo has to go. They almost have it deleted during the Celebrity edition and was not even seen during the Teen edition. And yeah, I only saw it last Saturday night when Tina entered the house. She stepped on it on the stage when the co-hosts, Bianca and Mariel, ushered her to Toni. They removed it even on their website. You cannot even fiind by Yahoo!.
It is like clearing out the eye for a cleaner view.
I am now interning (my sked is from 2-10 PM) in this Private Hospital that cater mostly to pregnant (they do not allow interns in Delivery Room though) and children.
I’ve been there load of times and I have some significantly funny experiences there.
One time our Clinical Instructor told us that we may have our dinner. After I’ve put away my Nursing paraphernalia I thought of playing a prank on my female groupmates.
The guys are always the first ones to leave the hospital because we were not donned with caps and aprons that should only be worn inside the hospital. While the girls were busy fixing themselves, I hid on a corner of this corridor where they are coming from. I was vis-vis the Nursing station so the nurses there know that i was hiding to startle them. I cautiously pinned my self on the wall and waited for the girl’s shadows to show. I was a bit impatient but of course just like any prank, timing and patience are the perfect ingredients for success.
Actually my guess in Big Brother housemate swap was Mickey since he can speak German and Slovenia is just south of Austria. I also thought that it could be Maricris since Slovenia is Northeast of Italy. Who would have thought that it would be Bruce?
The swapping will already happen this week with a Female Slovenian Housemate … and I have not finished my Housemate review yet… so here is my third and final bout. (read the first and the second)
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Let us start with Bruce Angelo Quebral. Actually last Holy Week my cousins and my sisters were talking about him. It turned out that he was my sister’s former classmate and dorm mate. According to my sister, Bruce was dorky. According to her Bruce was never as gregarious, as sociable and as “caring” as what he portrays himself inside the house, you know the always-there-to-comfort-guy. It is clear that my sister didn’t like him. She was like, “Ano ba yang si Bruce sumali-sali pa… hindi naman gwapo.” (he’s not even good-looking.)
Ugly he is for my sister, not for the Slovenian folks though.
The Slovenian Big Brother Creative Director said, “I think he will bring some competition among the men in the house because actually we don’t have such good-looking guys in the show right now…. We found that Bruce, his dynamics and even his looks, will be perfect for the Slovenian Big Brother.” And i even remember that he mentioned the word “EXOTIC”.
So what should I say? Hmmm… I really do not care much about Bruce. He’s not a major player inside the house anyway… and definitely not my favorite. About my sister, though… akala ko ba ganun yung type mo? Yung di gwapo. HARK HARK.
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Elmo Jeremiah Cruz aka Bodie, of Quezon City… was among the last four secret housemates. Except being the son of a 70’s Filipino Icon… there is nothing interesting about this guy anymore. The house can live without him. He is very solitary and very hesitant to talk. I just wish he’d do a voluntary exit. And we’ll all be happy. Right?
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Dionne Dennia Monsanto from Cebu. Yeah the girl who haven’t resolved her Electra Complex. Actually my classmates and I have been discussing about her needs for a fatherly image way before it was announced by the Big Brother House Psychiatrist. It was the very reason why she’s so close… meaning her arms are tightly wrapped on the Zeke’s body, to the guy housemates. And her dreams about Mickey, I bet are all “wet dreams’ or else she wouldn’t have talked about it. She is very unpopular outside the house that is why it is a wonder she survived two nomination nights already.
She described herself in the Website as “Faithful, analytical, savvy, passionate, fun”… think she forgot an adjective? I think she did.
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Maricris Dizon from Italy. She’s very infamous outside the house. In fact nightly at Pinoy Big Brother UpLate, Mariel Rodriguez always receives a comment or two about her that are full of animosity. Well, i just think she is one of the honest ones inside the house. I think she is very real. But still not my bet.
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The other last two “rejected” housemates are Jeremy and Mikah…uhm… i didn’t like Jeremy since he’s a crybaby. I think Mikah on the otherhand would have been a better character inside the house than Bodie.
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PS I think the Slovenian Housemate would be… Jasmina… or i wish. *Joke* because I think she and Tina are the only ones who were not nominated this time. but of course i am not sure since I cannot understand the slovenian website.

12:00AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I woke up to join my sister watching a late primetime show.
12:30AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I went to bed while a commercial was playing. Then the moment I heard the show resumed I hurriedly went back to my seat and I felt a generalized pain on my abdomen which easily subsided to a more localized one. The pain radiated from the left lower quadrant of my abdomen to my umbilicus and to my epigastric region. I thought i was experiencing gas so i told my sister. But the sensation increased until i thought of acute appendicitis.
Karen and Kate, though twins are extremely different. Kate has always been regarded as the prettier. One morning while I was in Isabela last week, my three, turning-8 years old cousins (the fraternal twins, Karen and Kate, and Jessa) went with our Grandmother who visited, Rex, our other cousin, who had been in the hospital for three days because of peptic ulcer. When they returned, my grandmother told us that the three were weighed and Karen registered 25kg in the weighing scale against Kate’s 16kg. Some of our older cousins taunted Karen and told her she’s fat. With me smelling a diminishing self-esteem (Karen is the nicer but the quieter one) told her that her weight was just normal, adding that I weighed the same when I was in grade two.
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So far i have nothing interesting to write about. (Maybe next week when I’ll be interning in the General Hospital’s Emergency Room.) I am not yet enrolled but my duty is still on Thursday.
I am also planning to enroll in Red Cross for some trainings since Ill be having no Acad subjects just my Thursday-Saturday Internship. And I also passed a resume last week in Red Cross for their volunteer work on May.

And by the way, on Monday bataan will be celebrating the 65th Bataan day! YEHEY! Go GO Bataan!
This week should have been our enrolment for the summer but i have not yet enrolled since our group thesis was again rejected. For the last time we were asked to complete it and pass it on tuesday or else….
I cannot help Jovelle with the Thesis anymore since I’ll be going to Isabela. I tried my best to revise my parts of the research. About our other groupmate, John Carlo, ihm… well, we should have killed him if we still got the time last January. Grabe kamulalan nya! 80% of our failure was because of him.
Yesterday was Charlie Angel Acosta’s graduation. I was not really in the mood to go since it wasn’t a big deal to me but Chamitos and Bezami forced me to. After some few hustles of preparation, Papiru Acosta (my father) and Charlie Angel Acosta (the celebrant) decided to go first. And we followed after we took our turns to wash.
I haven’t visited the place since last year, since Charlie attended her recognition day in that spot while Chamito gave her speech to the elementary graduates in our former elementary school nearby.
The moment we stepped there Chamitos immediately asked us if we can start taking our photos… the place was just exciting… wide open highways, old delapidated buildings as big as SM North edsa, and mountain trails and huge grasses… soon we decided to forget about our sister’s graduation and have taking each other’s photos.
First we visited Kadiwa.
During the Martial Law, the former Dictator showed a special affection for the Bataan Province especially our town, Mariveles. He built here the first ever Export Processing Zone (now called economic zone) in the country, he also had a really big rest house at Talaga beach, a branch of PUP and of course the really big Kadiwa.
Kadiwa supposedly was created to be a great commercial shopping center. It is composed of three buildings that are altogether bigger than SM North. But unfortunetely after its construction has ended a great fire ate the place. Since then it became the favorite settings for popular ghost stories and venue for the best and most unforgettable, legendary fist fights for grade schoolers… while the place became the spot of couples to do their, well secret deeds… and of drug addicts for their nasty sessions.
Later on, a high school was built on one of the buildings… and there was where Charlie went for her secondary education. But still a big chunk of the building was not renovated and still possesses the ambiance of darkness and danger… so we visited the hidden nook and had these interesting photos.
Then we went to the road side and had another photo opportunity.
Then at our house Papiru was very hesitant to join us so we cornered him at the sala and squeezed him for a wacky family pic.