Japanese TV series and learning language skills

Before I went home tonight, I had to go to a dinner with my fraternity brods. Unfortunately the hosts changed the venue without even informing the restaurant where they first made reservations.

During the trip to the restaurant just in the periphery of Greenhills shopping mall, I was able to watch a tagalog dubbed Japanese TV series. The title of the series is Hana Yori Dango. It is the Japanese version of the ever popular Taiwanese series Meteor Garden. Meteor Garden was also dubbed in tagalog.

I remembered doing a marathon viewing of the series on pirated DVD last Christmas. I had no choice. We only had one DVD player and television and my sisters and my mom are fans of the series. We watched it from morning to the morning of the next day.

The series was introduced in the Philippines only this February.

On my way home bearing the frustration that I was first at the venue only to find out that I was moved elsewhere, I took a Jeep to EDSA. During the ride, all I heard was chatter among passengers. One thing that really caught my attention is when the "conductor" tried to find the person who paid P50.00 to give his change, no one answered. Irritated at the lack of attention, the conductor returned the change to his cash box.

After a while, a person sitting next to the conductor asked for his change. He paid P50.00 and he is yet to get his change. This got him into a light tongue lashing from the conductor.

The conductor mumbled about how he asked who is yet to get a change for fifty and nobody answered and then suddenly this guy next to him asked for his change. The changed that was being handed out a few minutes earlier.

After reaching the end of the jeepney's trip, I transferred to a FX for my ride home. During this time, the only chatter I heard is from a family sitting behind me and the noise from the TV-phone. The TV-phone is a modified phone with a UHF-VHF receiver to allow viewing of free TV. I am sure it was made in China. You can find some info on this in my other blog: blagsasapot.

The family was letting their child watch some news and listen to some music. The kid repeats some familiar word heard from the phone. The mother repeats the word again and asks the child if he understood the word. I don't really know if the child is a he or a she.

The songs they listened to are modifications (almost bastardized versions) of original songs. Most contain sexually suggestive lines but the parents don't care.

It's good though that the child only retains specific words and not whole phrases. Maybe in time, he or she will know what those words meant together and wonder why his/her parents allowed them to listen to such a music.

In the end, the couple argued about the husband spending more time downloading stuff than attending to the domestic needs of his child and wife.

Manny Pacquiao

Tonight on my trip home, I joined one of my officemates who uses our company car. Through the radio, we heard the news and opinions about Manny Pacquiao winning the boxing title from Juan Marquez.

The opinions discussed during the trip are whether Manny's win was indeed a win. He won through a split decision in yesterday's fight.

Some analysts point out that Marquez should have won the match based on their own unofficial scorecards. All of them, at least, respect the decision of the three judges. Pacquiao got one point ahead of Marquez to win the match.

Another discussion was on the report about a lone white car that has been victimizing pedestrians with handbags. This mostly happened in less secure subdivisions in Quezon City.

The driver apparently follows a prey and when he gets the chance, speeds up, grabs the bag, and even drag the unsuspecting victim for several meters. Right now, QC police are on the alert for the white car whose driver will probably just relocate and continue his mayhem.

In closing, we talked about sleeping in the office since the hot afternoons make people weak and succumb to sleepiness. I admitted that I slept just after five while the rest of my companions failed to get one.