I miss you Papi

I was redditing at work and came across this video of Steve Jobs' funniest moments. I "watched" the video in the background while I went to the comments section on Reddit. There was a mention of how frail and thin Jobs looked at the end, and suddenly I found myself tearing up. It reminded me of my grandfather, who passed away in October 2009. He also looked frail and thin, and there were moments when I was actually scared of hugging him because I thought hugging him too tight might "break" him. Stupid, I know. Maybe I was just too scared of his illness. He was just so thin, so unlike him, and I think I just couldn't process that information.

i also remembered that I didn't cry when my mother called me to tell me that he was gone. I told Kim (by text message instead of phone call, idiotically) and she cried. I honestly thought there was something wrong with me. There were a few nights when I lay in bed unable to sleep, thinking that I would never be able to see him again. I don't think I actually "got" it until I went to his grave the next summer. He's gone; I would never be able to see him again; he never got the chance to see any of his grandchildren graduate college.

I don't know when it started, but now whenever I hear/read about cancer or Steve Jobs looking frail and thin, my mind goes straight to my memory of hugging Papi and feeling his bones, especially the sharp edges of his shoulders. I just remember that one hug, at home. I don't even know if it actually happened or if it's just my imagination, but it's always the same hug. I really miss you Papi!

JT is back!

I really love his newest single "Mirrors"

What a game!

Just beautiful

Can I start by saying how much I love the trend of quickly uploading GIFs of significant moments in the match? I highly appreciate everyone who's doing this, especially when I'm stuck at work while big matches such as this one is being played.

The anticipation of the match itself was enough to occupy my morning. Pretty much all I did up until lunch break was read articles on Manchester United and/or Real Madrid. One of them was on how Real Madrid helped rebuild Manchester United after the Munich air disaster, which is very touching and surprisingly I've never heard of before today.

Once the lineups were announced, I couldn't contain my excitement/nervousness/whatever it was that I felt. I liked Fergie's attacking team; at the same time very worried of Rafael having to contain Ronaldo. I thought Jones was probably tasked to shadow Ronaldo as he successfully did to Fellaini this past weekend.

Unfortunately, the referee made a few questionable decisions in the game. Two of United's yellow cards, to van Persie and Valencia, were soft and of Sergio Ramos' play-acting. I thought Evra was through on goal when Varane fouled him; that's at least a booking, possibly a red if he was the last defender. And he blew the freaking whistle when United has a corner to take! What.the.fuck?! I'm sure there are decisions that go against Real too but I'm a biased United fan so I forget those.

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And now, the match highlights in GIF form:

And the record continues

Ryan Giggs opened the scoring to Manchester United's 2-0 win over Everton this morning. This is his first goal of the season, which keeps his streak of scoring in every Premier League season going. He has scored in 23 consecutive league seasons –– as long as I have lived –– 21 of them Premier League.

So, when do we get to have *Sir* Ryan Giggs in our lineup? Seriously.

Now we're 12 points clear with 12 games to go. Title number 20 is ours to lose, certainly, but the job's not done. Come on United!

My 2012

It was unmemorable, I think. I mean, it's definitely nothing compared to my previous year. The most significant thing is that this is the first calendar year that I didn't meet my family at all. I haven't been home to Indonesia since summer 2010 and my family was here summer 2011. I really, really miss them!

Entertainment wise, I thought it was a very Whedon year for me. Started with The Cabin in the Woods in April, The Avengers in May, and I also watched the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. It was also Firefly's 20th anniversary, and I attended their special panel/screening at NYCC.

I've started reading books again at the end of last year. I started with Richard Castle's Nikki Heat series, and  ended with Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. I am trying to read more -- I guess I can call it my new year's resolution -- and watch less TV/movies. I've started a movie/book list so I can keep track of how many I've watched and read, and see at the end of the year my watch/read ratio. I also want to write more. Hopefully I can continue posting to my blogs and to add to that, I might start writing book and movie reports for everything that I read and watch. Not sure how well that goes though since I'd probably end up not reading any books because I'd be too lazy to write the report.

In any case, looking forward to (hopefully) an exciting 2013!