The Weekend Ends

Last Friday we took our qualifying exams for the next step in training. I was pretty confident I'd pass. However, during the oral tests, which was the highlight of the whole course, I kinda fumbled through some of the lines. In fact, I started it over on another recording, which is a criminal offense, because it was THAT bad. The 2nd attempt was better but it made me worry that I couldn't erase the 1st recording, how if they found out I sorta cheated, they'd mark me with a failing grade for sure.

It's working. Work. It's given me the sense of normalcy I asked for. In a nice way, I feel really stable. I've been quite reasonable with myself, something that doesn't happen very often.

Most of us passed the exams except for maybe 4 or 5 who still needed assessment. I urged my officemates to watch Meet The Fockers with me. We watched it and it was a very funny film, at par with the prequel, in my opinion. Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman were hilarious! O god, and those geriatrics doin Yoga! I was laughing all the way through.

Saturday I went to the hospital to visit my grandmother along with my aunt who flew in from Ashburn, Virginia. My grandmother's looking great. I gave her a kiss on the forehead but didn't get too close because I had colds that day and feared infecting her. Really. They found a bit of pneumonia again but gave her some antibiotics already. She's gonna be fine, thank god.

I went to Corinthian Gardens and played tennis with 2 of my high school buddies. The last time I played was around July or August last year. In short, I sucked big time. My forehand scattered the balls all over the place, I had NO backhand except for short floating underspins. My serve was horribly nerfy. The only thing goin for me that day was my running, which is useless if you can't get the ball inside the court.

Moving on, to prepare myself for the graveyard shift, I slept really late. I tried watching this series called Dead Like Me, which my classmate from Ontario sent me last Christmas. It was shitty how the TV's fcuked up. The volume switch doesn't work; the sound comes and goes at random. I figured I wouldn't be able to enjoy the pilot episode because there were no subtitles. To keep my fuse from blowing up, I decided to watch something incredibly lame so I won't feel so bad. I watched Ella Enchanted.

The next day, Sunday, I woke up at 2pm. I met up with Nikkita at Greenbelt where she was shopping for something to wear for a wedding. You wouldn't believe the kind of clothes they sell over at Landmark. Like what she whispered to me, "It's where bad fabrics go to die." Hahahaha

We watched Ocean's 12, which had a fantastic soundtrack and entertaining dose of humour (though I still like Ocean's 11 better). After that, we decided to watch Kung Fu Hustle, this karate comedy written and produced by Stephen Chow. Not all parts were funny (as the same was with Shaolin Soccer) but the scene where he's stabbed thrice and gets bitten by 2 cobras in the mouth was hysterical! Also, it was very politically incorrect. It reminds me of the Wayans brothers or Ben Stiller movies.

I commented to Nikkita how it's a pity we can't make the same quality films locally. I'm not even talking about the storyline or the special effects. Hello??!! Kung Fu Hustle!! When I say quality, I mean the beauty and simplicity of the shots. Eventhough it was a comedy, you could see how each scene was treated with artistry, that they didn't just round up people to adlib for a believable slapstick no-brainer. There was effort in the choreography, the make-up, the lighting, the costumes and milieu, the special effects.

Sigh ... I wish we could do the same here.