The Way, The Truth & The Life

There really is a unique race

And you could join by passing the test.

Would you be so please

If I take you to that special place?

Phyrric - Cat is for catastrophe

Spare me your pity. I don't need your sympathy.

It's my way or the highway.

Battered and bloodied.

I've won but at what cost?

There really is no victory to savor when I myself am wasted.

Yeah, a small victory. Doesn't necessarily win me the war but a stark reminder that there is one.

Go away now. Leave me alone. Just let me be.

This has always been the way for me.

(Btw, u need my permission if u'd want the photo. The cat deserved some compensation, u know.)

Philippine Hostage Taking Crisis & The Police Response

Sometimes there are only questions because we don't want to hear or know the answers.

What could be worst than police brutality?

POLICE STUPIDITY. The truth hurts and I hate to be blunt, but it has to be said.

Incompetence is unforgivable when it results to loss of lives.

What have these boys been trained for? Where they ever trained?

I could only sympathize with the victims.

Father, forgive them they don't know what they're doing.

Now we know to whom those words from Jesus refers to.

And SHAME, obviously they have none.

(They said conscience is removed during training. But were these guys ever trained?)

But then again, could we fault the caveman for their thinking or lack of such?

Also, there are unseen forces at work here.

Remember that Gloria? Yes, she of the Enchanted Kingdom.

When Garci was god, she was President. Or so she said.

Lies, corruption, incompetence and poverty were her legacy.

Like cancer, the puss and gangrene finds its way to the skin, breaking at the seams.

This are her children.

Ill equipped, incompetent law enforcers caught unprepared under the glaring lights and the world's watching eyes.

A lot of work needs to be done, obviously, for the rehabilitation of the Philippines. Meanwhile, this one could not be undone.

Forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

But not Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - always self conscious and aware. Malevolent and manipulative to the very end (of her term as President).

Let her pay for her sins. The purging must begin for the country to really move forward.

There must be accountability for there to be justice.

It must start now.

Meanwhile, will someone show these gentlemen (the policemen above in their photo session) how to behave in light of a tragedy of there making...

Next Stop, WONDERLAND

Note: This is about moving on... my thoughts on going to another job. Published in a company news letter in February 2001.

Just when you're getting the hang of it, you realized you have to move on. Changes take place and you become willing prey to its whims - we all do. Consider it a natural order in your journey through life. You move on when destiny beckons you to. I guess it's the hadr choices you make that define who you are and where you are going.

It's a crossroad. A one time opportunity since you'll never get to stand in the same place again. One step forward and a whole new world awaits.

First Gas. If it was a ride, it was indeed a good one. I never had a days work during my stay. Why? Well, it's never work when you're having fun - doing the things you were born to do and like to do.

And the people? Familiar and friendly faces lit (up) the workplace! From my peers up to the top, I have nothing but praises. Helping hands were never hard to find. (Nice working with you guys and gals).

And what have I gained during my stay? Aside from friends, I'd say experience. The confidence and know-hows all goes with it. The trainings and tasks I had gave me wisdom beyond my years. I'm a lucky guy, need I say more?

The hard thing about Goodbye is that it means leaving behind a life we have come to cherish and love. But move on we must. I may be with another organization as I write this article; the people there proving to be a wonderful lot too (though this would be for another story). but certainly, topping the First Gas experience is yet to be known

To First Gas, kudos and more power!!!

(This article talks about changes and moving on. Reading this article, I can't help but notice the differences this one has to my current articles and style of writing. Another testament to changes and moving on.)

The Inspector

Note: I've written this article for a company news letter. This was published back in July 1999 entitled the Project Inspectors.

The commissioning of the switchyard is well under way and this activity needs to be closely monitored. Simultaneously, I&C activities need your presence. Looking at the piles of paper, you noticed other work requiring equal attention. You know the drill. Pass the paper. The Project Inspectors are on their way.

In FGPC, we have inspectors at site covering every department - Civil, MEP & Instrumentation and Control. Generally, they are responsible for monitoring and witnessing activities in their respective areas of responsibility. I heard you saying easy. Well, you couldn't really tell unless you know what thei typical day is like. I should know, i'm one of them.

Picture yourself a Project Inspector now, see what happens, and check if you get a kick out of it.

0730H. Sorting out the RFIs (Request for Inspections)

You look at the files of paper to know the work that awaits you. Now believe me when I say this could be an overwhelming experience.

0900H. Sun bathing

An hour has passed and still no beach. In lieu are the trucks, concrete, a structure waiting to be mold, and a couple of dozen people toiling.

1030H. Inspections

The contractors owe us quality work but we could not be sure that's what they're giving us. Inspections give us the opportunity to conduct quality checks (with K&D).

1300H. Playing the Game.

Avoid hitting if it's humanly possible to do so. But if you must, never hit soft. In this kind of job, confrontations could never be avoided. but I guess it's supposed to be that way. Point of fact, in the construction game you deal with all sorts of people - the best and the worst so to speak.

If you're in the right track, play your cards well. The contractors would be laughing hard if you turn your other cheek. Don't just play poker to call bluffs. Do chess and beat the opponents ten moves in advance.

Also, take pictures for best results.

1500H. Inspections, inspections, inspections...

We can never get enough.

1630H. The day is done...

Retiring at the comfort of your chair, you feel the confidence brought about by finished tasks. But as you recline half dreaming of a well deserved rest, you noticed new sheets on your desk. It's all too familiar, you say to yourself. Some more RFIs. Just as you begin to think it's over, your work has merely begun.

2000H and counting...

Work, work, work.

You get the picture.

With Pacquiao, Mayweather Loses his Swagger

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/07/with-pacquiao-mayweather-loses-his-swagger/

Published @boxingnews24

With Pacquiao, Mayweather Loses his Swagger

July 21st, 2010

By Rasheed Catapang:Team Mayweather is speaking now, going as far as denying that a negotiation to fight Pacquiao ever took place. However, they’re still not answering the only question that really matters: When will Mayweather fight Pacquiao? Will he ever?

The words of Floyd Mayweather Jr. himself after a lengthy silence require deciphering. “I’m not interested in rushing to do anything right now. I’m not really thinking about boxing right now… Just relaxing.”

Sweet.

The words are coy and utterly unfit for a king. Mayweather, if he still fancies himself one, has to demand respect. Pacquiao, wanting to fill his coffer and all, declared war to Floyd. A king is not supposed to just move aside to avoid the onslaught.

Floyd just did.

What had happened to Floyd and where’s his swagger?

Say a kid took a bully’s lunch, demanded his pocket money and everything he had. Will the bully ask first what the kid is on before administering a beating?

Or the world’s giving you truckloads of money and a chance for you to prove what you’ve been saying all along. Won’t it be right to just take the money and do your thing?

Actions contrary to the norm would only mean something else. Floyd’s words in response to a direct challenge have no meaning.

Mayweather appears content to just grab the p4p crown through the poll, to battle it out in the court of public opinion – knowing full well that a fantasy fight concocted in man’s mind is winnable, considering he’s perceived to have the more superior skill set. However, once enclosed in the four corners of the ring, reality is sure to take an awful turn. Not having a loss because of a carefully managed boxing career, he sure will not welcome a world of hurt.

And a world of hurt is really what Pacquiao is all about.

The Golden Boy was still golden and shining before he came across the Pacmonster. But Oscar Dela Hoya had learned through 8 painful rounds what the little devil is able to give and what he, in the receiving end, is not able to take. In the face of perpetual onslaught, Dela Hoya hoped for the KO that never came. The experience, which for him is best left unremembered, was enough to make him retire.

The Hitman still had a perfect record at 10 stones (140lbs), never losing his mark at that weight, before being offered the hit on Pacquiao. It was over in 2 rounds and Ricky Hatton got what Dela Hoya had wished for himself. Hatton never really knew what hit him. Ricky was flattened and his career as a boxer is yet to recover, one step to retirement in each passing day – if he’s not there already.

Nevertheless, Mayweather had beaten those men too. But the end results of his fights with them were not as brutal, as decisive, as immediate nor as final. It was never more so in Hatton’s case, where the world was reminded of a primal force that is Pacquiao and the devastating effect of such power when unleashed.

Still, Mayweather had beaten those men too. And he has the same – if not more – of the preternatural skill that Pacquiao has.

The world demanded a clash inside the ring to prove who the better man is. But Mayweather’s not wavering in his conviction, whatever that is.

Perhaps Floyd’s real concern is that the world would stop and watch, and celebrate the fall of the mighty. If Paquiao is able to do to him what was done to Hatton, with the whole world watching, will he be able to live with the memory forever?

Hatton barely could when his pride is but a fraction of that of Mayweather. Pacquiao is all about pain and Mayweather is not ready for that.

Mayweather has retired, un-retired, and has been dangling with retirement. Pacquiao could make that permanent for him.

“I’m not interested in rushing to do anything right now. I’m not really thinking about boxing right now… Just relaxing.”

Floyd has lost the edge, the swagger and has given up the claim to Boxing’s Greatest Ever.

And while the King was looking down, the Jester stole his thorny crown. The courtroom was adjourned…

Floyd Mayweather Jr: The Derision

@boxingnews24

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/07/floyd-mayweather-jr-the-derision/

Floyd Mayweather Jr: The Derision

July 19th, 2010

By Rasheed Catapang: The FIGHT between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao is off again. Blame not Mayweather, as pure a monk as anyone could be, whose vow of silence could not be broken even by an offer of something in the vicinity of 50 MILLION dollars.

For someone whose mouth is known to be as loud and as vicious as his fists, the silence that inhabited Mayweather’s camp during the second negotiation was truly deafening. Nevertheless, it was also telling. When Bob Arum’s impose time-line for Mayweather to accept a fight with Pacquiao expired with nary a word from the mouth that roared (or used to), Mayweather’s silence actually spoke volumes. And the truth was screaming all along.

Screaming like these:

LeBron James made the decision. Floyd, not stepping up to the plate, only invited derision. True, Lebron is now being criticized for his judgment call but at least he made a choice. He’ll be a villain for going for the jugular, everything for his much coveted NBA ring. Floyd, on the other hand, for reasons we could only imagine runs silently to the nearest exit.

Floyd talk the talk but failed to walk the walk. So forget what Floyd said about Pacquiao being easy and how he’ll whooped his ass. In reality, Pacquiao is one insurmountable Grendel. A southpaw with ultra fast hands, the Pacmonster is Floyd’s ultimate kryptonite. Father knows best and Floyd’s dad, in many different ways, had voiced such concern many times over.

Floyd is really all about the zero and he’ll not risk losing it to Pacquiao – not when every possibility points to that. He’ll sacrifice everything in the altar of that perfect record

Roger Mayweather, Floyd’s uncle and coach, will go to trial and might not be available for a fight in November this year. Tough luck. It might be a valid reason to call off the fight but surely Floyd’s father is just as qualified. And valid also is this argument: if by chance Roger is found guilty after the trial, would Floyd never ever fight? Floyd’s statement last Sunday invalidated both.

Floyd’s just not thinking about boxing right now. Not with Pacquiao in it.

David Haye is at present boxing’s biggest ducker. Should Floyd carry on with his charade, Haye might as well share or concede to him that spot. And Haye could always say the Klitschsko’s are bigger than him. Not so in Floyd’s case.

History repeats itself occurring first as tragedy, the second time as farce. And that sums up the story of Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao: The fight that wasn’t, isn’t and, judging from Floyd’s stance, will never be. Anyhow, it doesn’t matter now since we already know who’ll win that fight. The past pervading silence allowed us to figure that.

An Elegy

In the beginning was the word.

And words are meaningless.

The few that actually has are beyond my grasp. Beyond me in this moment. Or silent to me that I could not hear or say them.

Perhaps silence is the meaning.

My father has a way with words. And that was taken away too as he was laid to rest. But what his words stood for remains, and they mean a lot to the people touched by them.

I pay my respect in silence knowing too well that words would not suffice. My father is too great a man to ever need mine. Even the best things in life are best left unspoken.

Specially when they are gone forever.

My father showed me a life of black and white. It's either good or bad with no room for compromise. He took away the complexities and made life simple. He had thus known and lived a life that is honorable.

Stepping out of the shadows, I'd left that perfect world as all sons would do. Away from the guiding light and protective arms, I'd created my own as all sons did before me.

Black and white... but there were grays too. And all the other colors of the rainbow.

Life is complex to complicated men.

While great men lives in a world of Black & White.

I mourn the passing of the light, the great divide between black and white... Like all things passed, there's no going back.

And black & white and gray are words. Words are meaningless.

But Black and white and gray are memories too. Memories do have meaning.

In the beginning was the word. In the end, there were only memories.

Memories are forever.

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: The Best vs. The Beast for P4P Supremacy

@boxingnews24

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/05/mayweather-vs-pacquiao-the-best-vs-the-beast-for-p4p-supremacy/

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: The Best vs. The Beast for P4P Supremacy

May 5th, 2010

ByRasheed Catapang:

“Floyd Mayweather Jr. is boxing’s Greatest Ever, the best of the All Time Greats. He’s better than Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson. He’s the rightful P4P King and the real Face of Boxing.”

For the longest time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. uttered those heresies. And, repeating those lies many times over, he actually believed them.

There’s no sin graver than believing your own lies – and in boxing terms, the outcome could be fatal. There happened to be one now. And that is Mosley never believing a word that came out of Mayweather.

Mosley thought he can match wits and prowess with Mayweather. Come fight night, he found out that what he knew doesn’t equate to what is the truth and that there’s a big difference between thinking and converting those thoughts into action.

Moreover, the body doesn’t always respond to one’s will and old people tend to forget that. “Believe and you’re halfway there” is well and fine but Mosley’s halfway reaches only up to the second round. In essence, he could not give what he no longer has.

It was the oldest rule in the book: Know thyself and know thine enemy. The self is old and the enemy is in his prime. So, Mosley bloody failed when he bloody tried.

That said, the winner deserves all the accolades due him. Shine Mayweather, shine!

For the longest time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. believed the lies he made. On the fateful night of May 1, the truth actually caught up with it.

Well, almost.

There remains another with a similar claim, one whose self belief rivals his. There remains another that needs to be toppled – one, who though haven’t been caught actually saying them, sprouts the same lies. There is another in his mold, an egomaniac bent on ruling the world – a boxing god in a humble façade but just as bad and unforgiving.

There remains Manny Pacquiao.

They are polar opposites but mirror images – the yin and yang, Offense and Defense. One’s a beast and the other the best but equally effective and ruthless.

Fools and Sweet Science Scholars alike need not debate who the greatest boxer is of this generation. Some may claim Floyd deserves the P4P top slot now with the masterful performance over Mosley. But the question begs to be asked, would Mayweather have recovered in the 2nd round had it been Pacquiao (whose torrential rain of fists is swift and final) delivering the blows?

You and I won’t know better. It is not a matter that should be settled in the court of public opinion but in the ring which is boxing’s hallowed ground.

In the matter of Pacquio or Mayweather being the best, your opinion is just as good as mine. That’s why the FIGHT needs to happen.

Afterwards, Mayweather will be proven true. Or else, he’ll really sound hollow.

Floyd Mayweather's Great & Secret Show 2

Floyd Mayweather Jr: Shining Through Mosley

@boxingnews24

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/04/floyd-mayweather-jr-shining-trough-mosley/

By Rasheed Catapang: On May 1st, will we see the Shane Mosley of old or an old Mosley? The question needs to be asked though the answer won’t really matter. Little Floyd Mayweather Jr., like the countless times he had done before, will walk away with the win.

There may not be anyone now as supremely gifted a boxer as Little Floyd. And there may not be anyone now as confident with those gifts. We could deny his place in boxing’s Valhalla but we could never deny his talents. His detractors could cry foul and scream to deaf heaven all they want but they could not disclaim that his skill set rivals those of the All Time Greats.

In his claim to greatness, we could despise him – and his demeanor invites just that. But could we prove him otherwise? I doubt that.

Mosley, however, is qualified to try. He’s long in queue and earned the slot. Bear him no malice then when he inevitably fails and falls at the proverbial road side because at best Mosley is a test. He’s very good but is not great, and is now certainly very old.

Some people saw Mosley as a phoenix rising in the Margarito fight. They failed to consider Margarito’s state of mind in that fight or Mosley’s mediocre performance against Mayorga before that. Mosley could hope for another miracle but would that work against the very devil that is Mayweather.

If there’s anything Mosley could really do, it will be that which Pacquiao could not. That is to make Little Floyd shine.

“Shane done some things in this sport,’’ Mayweather (40-0, 25 KO) said, “but this fight is about enhancing my legacy, about proving I’m the best.’’

And that’s exactly what will come to pass. Floyd Mayweather Jr. for all his faults is a realist. He will never lose because he’ll never be on a fight he could not win. I believe there is the uncertainty in Floyd’s mind if he’ll be the winner against Pacquiao, with Mosley there is not a shred of doubt.

Mosley has yet to come to terms with that. Or else, he’s in denial. Failing to know the enemy eventually will cost him the war. After May 1, he’ll join the 40 before him who bloody tried.

And bloody failed.

“So now I’m telling everyone I know Mayweather is the best of all time. Better than Ali. Better than Frazier. The best that God has ever molded. But if he’s the greatest of all time and we knock him on his back, what’s that make Shane?” Mosley asked.

A dreamer.

The Morning After (The VIDEO)

How far would you go for the truth?

Where would Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be after the 2010 election?

In paradise enjoying her loot... Or in heaven with her god, GARCI...

Running away from all her "worries"

Ocean Deep

Or, in deep _________ (Feel free to fill in the blank).

Pacquiao's Perfect Performance

Article posted at boxingnews24:

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/03/pacquiao’s-perfect-performance/

“He had a good defense, but defense isn’t enough to win a fight,” Roach said. And that basically summed up the whole Pacquiao-Clottey Affair. The Event was – no small thanks to Clottey – uneventful.

His defense was too good for his own good. There was madness in his method. The method to his madness, however, was lost in that air-tight defense. Impenetrable as it was that almost nothing went in, nothing also went out. Clottey honed his defensive mastery to the extreme, almost possum-like, but thoroughly forgot that boxing also required a lot of punching in order to win.

Joshua Clottey was a caricature of a boxer that night – too bad to be real and too real to be believable.

That, however, just proved a point that The Event was never about the punching bag that was Clottey. It was, after all, about the whirlwind of a man in his opposite corner.

Perhaps that was also the reason Clottey appeared comical – not quite as being held down by the weight of his inneptitude but by the approaching onslaught that appeared to be perpetual. Across him was a man who’s really that good – make it great. At times a blur but almost always an exclamation point of force, Pacquiao was (in Clottey’s mind) one punch away from knocking him down.

Of course Clottey never went down. He was never knocked out. Nobody is expected to knock out a punching bag. Not even Pacquiao. And not even in Dallas.

The Event was a one man show. And we could not blame Pacquiao when it turned out a bore because in boxing, as in dance, it takes two to tango.

In Clottey’s defense – all pun intended – he’s also not entirely at fault. He was simply outclassed. (Big time because it happened in Dallas where, you know, everything’s big.) His failure to perform could be attributed to Pacquiao’s performance. Pacquiao, after all, is such a great fighter known to make even elite fighters look mediocre, if not downright bad. Why should Clottey be the exception?

Clottey was standing when the final bell rung. That must be, in Clottey’s mind, an accomplishment by itself. With Pacquiao’s recent run of havoc, it must indeed be. Congrats to Clottey also but we don’t want more of that.

“He had a good defense, but defense isn’t enough to win a fight,” Roach said of Clottey. He might as well have said it to goad another fighter.

The Event, for all its pomp and glory, was found wanting. It all goes back now to the fight we truly wanted. Everything now depends on Mayweather. If he survives Mosley and answers the call, he could – in spite of himself – really save boxing.

Tikbalang Doodles

Wasted!

Floyd Mayweather's Great & Secret Show

Article published in BOXINGNEWS24:

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/03/floyd-mayweather’s-great-and-secret-show/

By Rasheed Catapang: To hear him talk, he’s the best there is at what he does – the greatest boxer ever to lace up gloves. According to him, he’s the King of the Hill and inside the ring, his preferred temple and shrine, a boxing god.

Outside of his family and a few elite sycophants, almost all are heretics if Floyd Mayweather is to be believed. By his standard, even Sugar Ray Robinson – the closest thing the modern world has to a boxing god – is far behind him in Boxing’s Valhalla.

The extent of his madness is fascinating. Though assessing his sublime skills and perfect record of wins, he just might be the real deal.

“Line ‘em up and I’ll knock ‘em down,“ so said Mayweather in his second coming. And Marquez, long in qeue and being the first in line, was a willing sacrifice. The wolf fed on the lamb – a prophecy foretold which came to pass.

All hail Mayweather! Though just not yet.

Welcome to Mayweather’s great and secret show. An elite welterweight beating the best lightweight doesn’t secure one seats in Boxing’s Pantheon of the Gods or claim the spot in its highest echelon. Even a 40-0 record is no guarantee, especially when it’s by the path of least resistance.

To secure the coveted top, the same old rule applies: The best has to fight the best that in the end there can only be one!

Which then brings us to May 1.

Floyd Mayweather has to slay his first real demon come first of May. (Granted he had fought champions in Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah and Shamba Mitchell, but just exactly who are them in the grand scheme of things.) In Shane Mosley, a first ballot hall-of-famer, there is the legitimacy Floyd’s talk sorely lacks – a real sugar necessary to sweeten “Money”.

And Mosley, never mind his age, wouldn’t allow that if he could help it. Let’s hope he can.

Floyd has talked the talk; let’s see him walk the walk. As much as I wanted Floyd to be shut up by Mosley or anybody, I equally wanted him to prove just how great he really is. And when he does, if Floyd shines through, let him chase the one that got away.

For atop the hill Floyd wanted to rule over lurks the real monster, the Pound-for-pound King. It is a clash of the titans in the end, and it is only the Pacmonster who can put Mayweather in his proper place.

To hear him talk, he’s the best there is at what he does – the greatest boxer ever to lace up gloves. If Floyd delivers, he might as well be.

He’ll make a believer of us yet.

APPLE

An "eyeful" a day keeps the doctor away.

Manny Villar for President

Think Big! Think Grand!

Then, think again!

Manny Villar is pro-poor because he was born poor (or so he said).

With such a grand property in Salt Lake, Utah, USA (see pictures above), you can see just how poor he is.

Poor in spirit is more like it, and wealthy beyond your wildest dreams!


"Hindi ako magnanakaw" (I'm no thief), so says Villar. So the C5 scam was just everybody else's imagination.

So, vote for him and be poor forever!

Take your cue from Madame President GMA: Count your loot... err, your blessings!

Only in the Philippines!

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: LEGACY

Beware, the mark of the best... or beast!

A Good Story

I just have to post this one.

Never underestimate the power of a good story.

Variations of the Same

The Roi Perdu. The Ubermensch. The Rex Mundi.

My character keeps evolving.

Man is something that shall be overcome.

It's all happening in Messiah 666... where the "beast" is yet to come.