Showing posts from November, 2014

“Live. Die. Repeat.”

“Live. Die. Repeat.”

That’s the tagline of Tom Cruise’s “Edge of Tomorrow” 2014 sci-fi movie. 

Major William Cage was a soldier in a future alien invasion in Europe. Apparently, the aliens (called Mimics) could predict every move Cage’s United Defense Forces would take even before they took it. That gave them the winning edge in every battle. Humanity was losing the war.

(Don’t worry. No spoilers ahead.)

Cage accidentally discovered the secret behind the Mimics’ “sixth sense.” In a fatal fight against an alien, he got sprayed with its acid-like blood before he died. Surprisingly, he woke up moments before they were deployed in that last battle. The aliens employed a “time loop” strategy. That’s why they already knew what their enemy would do every time they would go back in time. Cage got caught in that loop. Like the aliens, he would improve his fighting skills every time the battle starts over. It’s not an instant replay. It’s a restart. 

How we wish we could have that “time loop” abi…

The Ozone Inferno

“Go to the office ASAP! - Kabayan”

That’s the message on my pager (Yes, I’m that old) that woke me up at about 5AM. Immediately, I got up and dressed up. While taking a bath, I was listening to the radio trying to see what breaking news brought about that message. Either a plane crashed or a ship sank or a massacre happened. I just heard about a fire somewhere. But our boss usually didn’t call us in the wee hours of the morning just to rush to a fire scene (except when it’s during our New Year’s Eve coverage). So, I didn’t give much thought to the news. I asked the cab driver to floor the gas pedal.

As soon as I got in the booth of DZMM, Kabayan Noli De Castro told us to rush to Ozone Disco. I learned that a fire broke out there. I was one of the media men who got in first after the firemen extinguished the fire.

When I got in with my cameraman Rommel Juanesa, the strong smell of burnt flesh almost overcame us. On the dance floor near the only known exit, we saw a lot of bodies burned t…

Detour, Not A Dead End

A dead end, according to a dictionary, is “an end of a road or a passage from which no exit is possible.” According to another dictionary, it is “a situation, plan, or way of doing something that leads to nothing further.”

There were times in my life when I thought I was in a dead end. 

Impasse. No way out. Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I was like Moses. There’s the Red Sea in front of me and the Egyptian army behind me. Only this time, I can’t part the sea. 

I failed. Many times. My dreams became a nightmare. And my nightmare came to pass.

(Of course, I can always blame others. The fact is, it’s not entirely my fault. But why waste time blaming? So, I’ll just take responsibility for where and why I failed.)

I got burned out. I got myself into stress-related disorder when I pressured myself so much because I always pushed for nothing below A-minus grades (For me, “A” is greater and “A+” much greater) in my seminary classes. Simply put, it was pride. That led to a lot…