It’s the New Year.  Bring it, 2008.

   A year ago, we visited a faith healer in a remote hill at Pozzorrubio, Pangasinan, to find some cure for my psychosis.  I have nothing against faith healing in general, but I don’t buy into it.  But outside of his trick of balancing an egg to a 25-centavo coin, he thinks that I’m actually clairvoyant.  It’s not that I hold the secret to Armageddon, but he thinks that I have the power to predict the near future.

   There are too many things that will obviously happen in 2008, but I am going out on a limb with a few prophecies of showbiz events that will happen this year.

*     *     * 

   The libel suit filed by GMA-7 against ABS-CBN will be quashed.

   The ongoing feud between Joey de Leon and Willie Revillame will reach new lows this year: Joey will once again refer to a new YouTube video exposing scams in the newly-relaunched “Pera o Bayong,” and Willie will refer to a new YouTube video exposing scams in “On the Spot Jackpot” where answers are written on the question cards.

   New emerging faces in showbiz would be Aiko of the ASF Dancers, and Chloe of 26K: the former would be 2008’s Diana Zubiri, and the latter would be the Vanna White of the Filipino version of “Wheel of Fortune.”  Rhian Ramos would move to ABS-CBN, but the biggest “ober da bakod” of the year would be Judy Ann Santos or Kristine Hermosa moving to GMA-7.

   Marian Rivera would be the leading lady of Richard Gutierrez.  Speaking of Gutierrezes, Ruffa and Yilmaz will be back together in the latter half of 2008, with Annabelle Rama finally giving in.  White Castle will be endorsed in calendars by Anne Curtis.  Lolit Solis would be convicted of libel, and Alfie Lorenzo will replace her in “StarTalk.”

   In an unprecedented move, the biggest local movie project for this year would be the comeback of Gabby Concepcion, starring in a family drama with his former wife Sharon Cuneta and his daughter KC Concepcion.

   Although I could be wrong…

December 31, 2007

   As much as you say how much I have been part of your life, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how much you have been a part of mine.

   In the three years that I’ve sat here to write, I always think of you.  You who come here regularly - some of you every day - to end your day on a better note.  I’ve heard some of your stories over the years.  There was one who got an administrative notice for wiring a proxy server to read what I have to write.  There was one who, after splitting up from her boyfriend, looked here to find some words of inspiration.  There are many others: a poignant one being that of the OFW who comes here every so often to read stories from home while talking to her family on a webcam.

   It hits me - hard - to think about the responsibility that has weighed down on my shoulders for these past three years that this blog is no longer just “mine,” but also yours as well.  Every so often, I think about the word “I,” and am tempted to replace it with “we.”  After all, every time I write about a “unique experience,” everyone else experiences it.  You, more than anyone else, experiences it.

   I enjoy - and continue to enjoy - writing.  Not because it’s therapeutic or anything, but because you make all this effort worthwhile.  And in 2008, you will most probably come back here and read what I have to say and end your days in a better note.

   From the get-go, there were always naysayers who told me that I would never amount to anything, that my writing style sucks, and that anyone can do what I do - even better.  I paid heed to those words, knowing that I can prove them wrong.  Needless to say, I didn’t: you proved them wrong.  You stayed here and you took me on.  You stayed.  When I felt left out knowing that the only thing I did for 11 years - campus journalism - was taken away from me because they didn’t think I belonged or I deserved it, you took me in.

   I do not know how to pay you guys back, knowing that what you did for the past three years cost you a lot.  But if anything, the only thing I can think about right now for all these years of you staying is for me to stay.

   All I’m saying is thank you.  Thank you for the support, the kindness, and the confidence.  Thank you.

Best regards for the New Year,

Marocharim

   As much as it applies to every damned year, 2007 has been an amazing year.  There are highs (so to speak), lows, and everything in between that made this year awesome.  And in TMX, it has been a fine year for blogging.

   The biggest news for Marochaholics this year was the launch of Marocharim.com: after three years of blog-hosting services at BlogDrive, everything became brand-spanking new a few weeks ago.  TMX loaded a heck of a lot faster and to some, looked a hell of a lot better.  Another big news was the online launch of Deus Ex Cybernetica: The Best of The Marocharim Experiment, which is an online e-book of the best of the first 1,000 entries of TMX.  Previously, it was only available through e-mail distribution.  Now that I have a lot more space to fiddle with, I will be making it - along with all other Marocharim e-books - available for download right here.

   It was also this year that I won my first blog-related award in PinoyBlogosphere.com’s Wika2007 Blog Writing Contest, where my entry “Pista ng Wikang Filipino/The Spectacle of the Filipino Language” won the Participants’ Choice Award (arguably my most famous entry to date).  The award, to me, is more than just a ticket to a free domain: to be recognized by top bloggers in the Philippines to be more than worth this award is something I will try very hard to live up to in 2008 and beyond.

   This year was marked by three volumes of TMX: Vol. 5, Vol. 6, and Vol. 7, spanning 362 entries in Original TMX, and 48 entries here in Marocharim.com (not including this one).  Yup, this year, I wrote 410 articles: statistically, an average of 1.12 entries a day.  On par with a professional blogger or a journalist working for a local newspaper.  And I have no one else to thank but my readers, who continue to read my blog and have sort of made a nightly routine out of it.  Thank you very much, guys.

   It was also this year that I have come to the attention of many notable bloggers, particularly Mr. Manuel Quezon III, who has quoted and referred to my blog on more than a few ocassions.  Internationally, my entry on Joma Sison’s September arrest in the Netherlands drew the attention of global neoconservatives, in particular The Belmont Club, Karlo Mongaya, and not to mention a few Joma supporters and sympathizers.  A brief debate between me and Teo Marasigan of Kapirasong Kritika on the matter of blogging.

   Overall, TMX has done good: way good.  Here’s to 2008, and many more Experiments to come.

   I’m having second thoughts about going to the beach tomorrow: I have a rather severe case of thalassophobia (fear of the sea).  A vast expanse of crystal-blue water can aggravate my mild psychosis: I automatically think of drowning.  The mere sight of a big wave - that’s not on TV - not only makes me nauseous, but makes me think about tsunamis.

   Outside of my fear, I have a rather low opinion of the sea in general.  It’s so serene, so boring, so flat, and so blue.  Many writers - particularly Ernest Hemingway and Joseph Conrad - have tried to capture the essence of the sea in their novels.  “Lord Jim” was a particularly harrowing experience for me: not for the conflicted personality of Jim, but for how Conrad described the sea.  So vivid, so moving, so… pardon me while I hurl.

   I’m more of a mountain man: the rugged mountains give you a sense of towering power over those who live down below.  The jagged, forested edges that frame both sunrise and sunset forces in you the sound and the fury of being so close to heaven.  The sea, on the other hand, forces in you the sound and the fury of being close to Hell itself.  Ah, my first ride in a ferry boat…

   While it’s a distant possibility that I’ll drown, I hope I’m alive by Friday to post pictures of how I survived the deathtrap that is the open sea.

   Catch you on the flipside.

   I had a lot of fun last night.  Too bad I didn’t bring my own digital camera, so the pictures will have to wait until next time.  Although I must point out that a few things didn’t go according to plan:

• I didn’t get really drunk and wasted;
• I didn’t get to watch the UP Baguio Lantern Parade, much less attended Pasiklaban, and;
• Because I’m not drunk, I’m blogging with a really benign hangover.

   With bullet-points over and done with, let’s get to blogging.

*     *     *

   Last night, me and a few friends from high school got together to celebrate Christmas the best way we could: good food, good drink, and good companionship.  There was Dette and her boyfriend Bep, our two engineers Lincoln and McJames, our future engineer Chedan, our registered nurse Aaron, our future registered nurse Mickey, our insurance agent Haidee, our future events-planner Katz, Jayson and his wife Inin, and our future pharmacist Rhoda.  My good friend Noel couldn’t come to the party because he had a company Christmas party to attend, but showed up for a couple of minutes to say hello.

   We started off the night by having dinner at Kubong Sawali by Military Cut-Off Road.  “A bite to eat” is a nuanced expression: since it’s Christmas, we ordered three bilao’s of mixed seafood platters that included octopus, grilled squid, tuna sashimi, steamed mussels, steamed tilapia, and rellenong bangus.  While I’m not the biggest fan of seafood, I had a particular liking for the squid.  The tuna sashimi, while not very fresh, was quite good even if the wasabi obviously was the kind that comes in a tube.

   Because it was about time I treated my friends, I decided that a round of beers at 18 BC at Legarda Road to prime our stomachs was just the way to do it.  Then, at Aaron’s suggestion, we headed off to Samurai Comedy Bar, found at the basement of La Azotea.

   I can’t say that I like comedy bars: I’m not a fan of gay humor.  But if anything, there’s something enjoyable about comedy bars if you’re not dragged into the stage to interact with a gay dude.  It got very funny when both Jayson and Bep were dragged into said stage.  I just hope that that they didn’t hear me calling them “animal food-trough wipers” on the way out.  Ah, what I wouldn’t do to find a comedy bar inspired by “Monty Python.”

   We headed off to Nevada Square to end the night.

   Pictures to follow… something tells me this will be better if I posted pictures.

   I’m not counting on being sober enough to blog tomorrow: today is Pasiklaban at UP Baguio, and I have a Christmas party to attend, so I’m planning on getting drunk tonight.  It’s been a while since my last good drink: the last drink I had was a can of San Miguel a couple of days ago.  I’m missing out on the joys of hangovers.

   Really, I’ve missed out on a lot of fun this year: while writing my thesis was fun and all, I think I need to have a bit of the fun that there is in the bottom of a liquor bottle.  I deserve it: a lot of good has come my way for the past few days that I don’t think a blog entry, much less the copious flow of liquor, would jinx my good fortune.  For everything wrong that happened this year, there was always something right that happened.

   Nope, my fortunes do not come from fortune cookies enveloping dubious passages from the Confucian Analects.  I subscribe to Jean-Paul Sartre’s radical existentialism: my life is what I make of it.  I wouldn’t have the life I live and lead right now any other way, because I’m finding happiness in places I’d never thought I’d be happy from, and happy for.  Wiping off the sick smile on my face would require surgery.

   Yup, fortune smiles on Marocharim, who’s gonna get wild and drunk tonight, baby!