4-2

had a busy day. had its good, had its lows, had a police officer.


woke up way early for a saturday morning, to get to a real early ball game at 11am. beautiful day. warm and sunny. groggy as bumm. made my way there, and the gym' lot was filled, got out and made my way across the street to the strip mall parkin lot. as i did, i entered the lot from the opposite side of the street (ref. to exhibit a), somewhat excited and in a rush to park already. chiggs noticed me coming out of the gym lot and figured it was full and followed me.


exhibit a.


only once i started turnin did i see the one way sign, but i brushed it off thinkin nothing of it, until i saw the cop car waiting for me. FUHG!!! the police officer stepped out quick and waved me to the side. i cursed myself, but chuckled afterwards as the cop waved in chiggs too! hehehe. classic. me n chiggs always have the dumbest car adventures. i called his cell, both of us laughing. chiggs tried sweet talkin the cop, and i saw through my mirrors the cop all cheery and laughing. i was hopeful, thinkin my clean record would get me a warning, but my sweet talk sucked ass. actually, it was more like sweet nodding. bah! took him a good 20 minutes to write us up, making us late for our game. the ticket set each of us back $151! (its ok, im rich)

even funnier was once we parked, we were about to jaywalk across the street to the gym, the frign cop car left the lot and was coming towards us. i fuggn panicked and turned back and put my hood up to hide. chiggs followed and cursed me for being scared. i wasn't takin no chances.

we showed up to the game which already started, laughing, peeved, and in no mood to play. but we did tho. under the impression that the opposing team was undefeated, was a lil nervous, but everybody played extra hard. straight to it, we killed em. by halftime, we were all wondering what all the hoopla was about. by halftime, we were up 14. and maintained that til the end. it was our biggest win. speakin of which, they were pretty stacked too. matched up well against our own big men. anyhoot, we won. i was 0-2 in the field, in 15 minutes playing, and yea. 4-2. think we're first now.

to celebrate, and to forget that ticket, me n chiggs decided to buffet it up! but even then, we were too late to catch the lunch service at oriental palace. checked pizza hut for their buffet, too late as well. so we settled on the classic, GOLDEN BOWL. and between the two of us, ordered 4 plates! LOL we laughed as it took a waitress and a waiter to make two trips to serve us. and went to town. we cashed in 3.5/4 plates. it was in all honesty, the most satisfying and filling and delicious golden bowl experience i've ever had. so proud. so full. so.... sleepy.

that is all. as one of my favorite bands (RATM) once covered, "fuck the police!"


p.s. i love robyn. too cute.





dee-shes!

3-2

had a ball game this past saturday against a team that wasn't undefeated. this coming weekend is the game versus the undefeated, this was just a game against a cambodian team. twas fun.


rocked a white headband this game to contain the fury that is my lion's mane.




had a full bench this game. the other team had exactly 5 players, therefore zero subs.


also had a family cheering section in attendance.




future star. he'll have the handle of a pinoy, but jump higher.


this guard shook me once, and smiled. i just kept playing hopin nobody noticed.






jose drawing a... block. refs have no love for him.






paulie.




other team had to take timeouts to catch their breaths.






final score (clock is warm up time for next game). easy win. fun game too.


getting love.


this was a fun team to run with. they had street skills and had mad handles, and were all about the run and gun. sadly, with no bench and lack of height, they couldn't keep up.

everybody played well. had like 4 players in double digits for points. i dropped a pair of deuces and ungracefully fell like twice in the mix. everybody played, laughed a few, and was able to close out the game easy.

anyhow this is our 3rd straight game this month, and have another 3 straight games the next three saturdays. next game is against the undefeated team. i think with our record now, we're tied for second (or 3rd spot).

p.s. thanks to tito lito espinosa' facebook album for the pictures! salamatssss!




no o-t!

untitled

"untitled"
oil on wood.
8 x 4 ft.
oct. 2007

this is my first term project based on a nude model. did several studies (on paper and wood) before approaching this large surface. i had no definite intention other than experimenting in recording movement, form, and line. this is my absolute favorite painting that i've ever done for school.

"no o-t"

had a basketball game today and im beaming. i gotta vent.


had a game at westhill gym (ghettoooo...) against the league's intercity team. plainly, it's the all star team that represents montreal in each year's labour day weekend intercity tournament. being one of the (if not actually are) top teams, needless to say, it was a game we really wanted to win.

our last two games turned out to be close losses... both in overtime. first one being double overtime, against last years champs even. i dont mind the overtime action, modesty aside, it makes us the most exciting team to watch, no contest. but down the stretch in this game we got our minds set on a fitting motto,
"NO O-T!"

two straight losses even got us slumping and pointing fingers at each other. a win was really needed to stop the team' bleeding. another loss would likely have killed the team' will to play together.

not only were we facing personal difficulties amidst a must-win game, we were short on players. missing five, seven showed up. half the starters, a pair of players/coaches, and a green rookie. disadvantage, but a blessing in many ways. a line and two on the bench, definitely would put our cardio to the test. but unlike our previous games where we juggled lines with a stacked bench, all seven of us were able to get (a helluva lot of) time, therefore get warm and find our groove.

i definitely benefitted, able to settle my nerves and check my handle. protected the ball much better this time around. and felt good running the offense. felt young again. aww the glory days. notched a few assists, a block, two baskets, and sadly got teefed a couple times. cant help but lose my handle when it gets physical. and my shot was shaky and teased me like a virgin (or any girl for that matter, but i digress).

so naturally i eased into a more comfortable role, in distribution. had a couple of stints in the role of 'scorer' for a couple of years back in the day (rive-sud; post-leo era, and edwin' south shore team), and was money... but typically, i distribute and run the O. which i did. cause leo's on my team. hehehe

anyhow, with 7 players, up 4 after the half, the other team looked more drained than we did. everybody played big.

jose (player/coach) with a stuffy nose even, came thru with solid minutes. he really did all the grunt work. he was quiet as hell, but only cause he was pushing his limit. zo (rookie) was my main sub. he put in solid minutes too. glad he came out, kept his cool, made me proud. chiggs played his role straight on. he's like the biggest decoy. when he touches the ball, he gets swarmed. he put up a couple of baskets, some boards and pretty much did his job and took up space. leo, the franchise/co-cap'n did his job on defense and offense. solid numbers. gil, our teams' jordan, came up big. had a run where he alone put the team up by 10 with threes and jumpers. he's drama, but he did right this game. he stepped up when we struggled. i just checked the score sheet, and gil put up 30. fuck. thats disgustin...

BUT player of the game goes out to... PAULIE (player/coach). his shooting from the field was not amazing but he did hit a pair, one being a trey. paul finished with 10. but he came up major in the last minutes, keepin us in the lead, hitting all 4 free throws to seal the W. now thats a veteran.

so yea we won. finally. cooled the tension. really needed that one. puts us 2-2. got another game next week with the league's first place team, this years new england patriots, undefeated and runnin up scores. if anything, it'll be a fight to just keep up, let alone win. O-T would be lovely this time around.


p.s. before gametime, i was blessed with flattering news. i was asked to run in this years intercity team for the labour day tournament. i said i'd think about it. this year' tournament is in ottawa. if i do, i'd have to train come summertime. it's a lot of work. but the tourney is hella fun. playin cities like new york, chicago, toronto, virginia, detroit... shit is real business. we'll see, still long time from now.

p.s.s. nba fans should check out gil arenas blog. funny, insightful, and inspiring. agent zero.



peace!

happy superbirth bowlday!

had a good weekend. turned 2-5 and celebrated it with the superbowl.




poetry.

my weekend started by finding my car snowed over after work on friday night by the storm. messed up. the precipitation was a mix of hail, snow, and rain. like wet snow that weighed like ice.

next mornin i had a basketball game i was in no mood for. not my best showing, even tho i put up three triples resulting in a season high. but i got rejected at the trey, zero assists, teefed a couple times, and the icing: embarassingly got shook sooo bad that the entire gym roared. we lost in OT by 3. ugh.

later had to work the bar at a valentine dance by the pinoy community that funded my ball team. had a blast. took advantage of the liqour access, a customer did magic for me (so i doubled his order), and took advantage of the liqour access some more. i didnt get f*cked, but i didn't drive home neither.

sunday soon came and hosted a superbowl party to celebrate my 25th. family and close friends came in to eat it up and cheer on 250 pounders tackling each other. food was stacked, no joke. and had plenty of that red star love in those nifty green bottles. was happy to have a pair of babies in the house to watch over too. baby girls are the epitome of cute. *sigh.

anyhow i was on/off with the game, busy going around hosting. but caught most of the second half. big fan of the giants. colts had my eye until they lost to the patriots during the season. then brandon jacobs' hilights, eli manning relatable struggles, and michael strahan spots on Best Damn convinced me that the G-Men were hard ass *%$&@! and i like they're uni's too. blue, gray & red? baaaaaad! im ebaying for a jersey.

never liked the patriots. to me, they emanated that swagger of a rich high school with a team of rich kids with all the fancy equipment and expensive shit. and the Giants were the ghetto kids on the sandlot clutching a brick for a football while running bare foot. anybody see the longest yard? word.



the dagger.

an unbelievable catch in that amazing play that ended the perfect season...




strahan rockin brady was icing! how the mighty have fallen...

this superbowl is honestly the best one i've seen ever. close and exciting, lived up to its hype. made tv n nfl history with, like 97+ million viewers (stateside). all the analysts' picks were wrong (foools). real glad it came thru...

giants won obviously. pulling the greatest upset in nfl history. only me and paul backed up the g-men, while the other 80% wanted the pats to be the undefeated legends. it was funny, all the trash i heard bout my choice throughout the game, turned to pure chirping crickets in the night when it was over. when they won, me n paul jumping up and down, i remembered that feeling of the "upset". i've heard people say this, but it was the first time i actually felt it: that i was part of the team and had overcome the odds and won. that, i myself, had won the game. felt niiice.

celebrated with more eatin, few more beers, slice of cake, and turned 2-5 at the stroke of midnight. good times.




p.s. sorry no pics. lazy.


yaaaaaaaaaaah!