Because I thrive on show-and-tell’s.
Because for someone mildly scatty, I find in football unblinking focus.
Because Arsenal is my unashamed ardor.
Home Sweet Home
My world stops when Arsenal FC play. I realized that I was irreversibly a Gooner when Thierry Henry left for Barcelona, and it did not even occur to me to switch allegiance.
The Good Old Days
It is a testament to unrehabilitatable fangirlyness that not even Henry could sway me. In the 06 finals of the Champions League, where Arsenal played Barcelona, Miko and I saw the 3 am telecast together. Oh, and what sorry results. Taking cue from, and envious of Miko, who had the good sense to file for a leave the day post game, I called in sick and spent hours and hours being all hangdog and feeling hard done by. (Almost three years on, that travesty of refereeing still haunts me.) I later told one of the bosses that I had a coronary condition. Yes, heartbreak qualifies.
On nights of inspiration, this club is peerless. I have waxed lyrical about Arsenal’s win over AC Milan last year, but I am more forcibly reminded of the September 2008 game where the Gunners well and truly flattened the Rovers 4-0.
Emmanuel Adebayor
Emmanuel Adeboyor’s hat trick was almost secondary to the crafting of the second goal (EA’s first of three), where the Gunners completed twenty-seven passes (twenty-seven!!!) before EA headed the ball past Blackburn's keeper. That is class. Of course, that is overelaboration too (and Arsenal are frequently faulted for this). But that is one such moment when you know that you have been witness to magnificence.
And because Arsenal are Beloved, I am ever-compelled by the urge to walk up to people who wear jerseys emblazoned with “Rooney”, “Lampard”, “Terry”, “Totti”, or “Pirlo” (among others), ask “Why????” or say “You have no idea.”
Even though Arsenal are suffering a goal drought, even though this season seems to be every supporter’s winter of discontent, even though the thaw does not seem to be forthcoming, the thought of not cheering the team on is untenable.
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And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.*
23:15:40, by Annsley 
, 41 words 
It's when they do something extraordinary...
-- Sophie Fisher's sister
...like wear a t-shirt:
Brings one to Ts.
...like discuss the writing of songs:
(written by Marc Lawrence)
...like be plain dear:
"Time Promised: xxx" (Superbowl order sheet)
... that captivates.
*Revelation 8:12.
(Seriously, not trying to be contrary.)
1) 15 Feb, Sunday ---
Wipeout will ruin your yellow leather wallet/bag, not clean it (though that may be because the label says it works on "leatherite", and not "[real] leather"). Lesson: when doing anything, always check with Wikihow first!
2) 16 Feb, Monday ---
A numb right arm does not mean you are having a heart attack (no matter how very numb it is. It may be the symptom of a transient ischemic attack, a brain tumor, Motor Neurone Disease, or autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis or lupus erythematosus, though. Oh my Lord).
3) 17 Feb, Tuesday ---
The Ambulatory Service Center of Medical City, open at 6 a.m., is already full by 7, and at 7:40 has already served 48 patients. I'm #52 total, #2 X-ray. Wait, what's that on my charge slip? Local resident discount. Sabi ko na nga ba, Pasig rules. "Ms. Cashier, may you tell me what this local resident discount might be?" "Oh, that's for residents... of the Philippines." Bummer. And I thought I was so special.
4) 18 Feb, Wednesday ---
Globe Telecoms in Megamall has transferred from the 5th floor, Building B to the Cyberzone, 4th floor, Building B. And so, no matter how many times you walk up and down the floor in your heels on your best behavior, you are not going to find it where you used to pay your bills. Again, I am reminded of Judge Limkin's remark: 'I would rather trust the smallest slip of paper for truth than the strongest and most retentive memory ever bestowed on mortal man.' Though really the mall's map needs some updating (and some upgrading to something where they put the unit number beside the store name) because we had to ask the guards where Globe was to find it.
5) 19 Feb, Thursday ---
Waiting for things to happen naturally takes an awful long time. But when there is no magicking your way around something, you just grin and bear it. Thus, an Oscar winner cannot sell his Oscar, ever, without first offering it to the Academy for $1. But what's one to do? Eat human beef at Super Bowl?
Or the new human tofu? Have freshly-wasted coffee at City Grill? The answer is yes (now if only I drank coffee...). Though neither that, nor the Oscars bit, really have anything to do with waiting.
6) 20 Feb, Friday ---
It's better to leave home late for work to avoid the crazy Pasig-Makati traffic (that, or you leave before children have to go to school. Or, isn't this always the case? In Metro Manila of the 24-hour traffic -- not really). Or maybe I was just lucky I finally got to Ortigas in just about 30, instead of the hour it's been taking for weeks. The new elevated double 90-degree left turns (or whatever. Definitely not a "U" turn, with those stupid angles [referring to the first one]) they're building along C-5 --- sorry for the inconvenience? Tell that to the judge.
7) 21 Feb, Saturday ---
25 February 2009, anniversary of the EDSA Revolution, had not been declared a holiday.
8) 22 Feb, Sunday ---
ebay's is a damn cutthroat world. 2 days in a row you'll get outbid on a Calvino book in the closing SECONDS of an auction. Seriously, closing SECONDS, as in 11 seconds left and Bidder 2 bids P5 more for Six Memos for the New Millenium. 11 seconds isn't enough time to panic-typeyournewbid-confirmyournewbid. And you've just upped your maximum bid (closing price: P355)! Although, you'd realize, that serves you right, you do the same. Like yesterday, on that de St. Exupery, last 20 seconds, at P380. And anyway, it's fine, because, just before the heartbreak, was Cosmicomics, at P350.
9) 23 Feb, Monday ---
Reading all that stuff about Article 36 makes one realize she might be "psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage". No kidding. "Marital union is a two-way process. An expressive interest in each other's feelings at a time it is needed by the other can go a long way in deepening the marital relationship. Marriage is definitely not for children but for two consenting adults who view the relationship with love amor gignit amorem, respect, sacrifice and a continuing commitment to compromise, conscious of its value as a sublime social institution." Say what now? Not that one is getting married anytime soon.
10) 24 Feb, Tuesday ---
There is an RCBC and ATM at the 18th floor, West Tower of PSE Ortigas and it works even when the one at Pacific Place does not!
11) 25 Feb, Wednesday ---
[CHEAT: written on 1 March, Sunday] Do not ever think, when you are writing down the things you learned in a day, that you would remember them even 5 minutes after you realize that you've learnt them. Write them down. Immediately. To avoid cheating. Like here. Cf: #4.
12) 26 Feb, Thursday ---
NLRC Procedure for Payment of Motions for Postponement/Extension [on the day you're submitting]: 1) Get Order for Payment from LAA; 2) Go to UCPB outside of PPSTA Building and pay P500; 3) Go to Cashier at 1st floor, PPSTA and show proof of payment; get receipt in turn; 4) Have it xeroxed (plenty xerox places 'round the building; there is also one on the 3rd floor of Bookman, and at the cafeteria behind its elevator; 5) Go back to Labor Arbiter's office and give to LAA for attachment to whatever you submitted.
13) 27 Feb, Friday ---
Word's "rescued" documents look like this:
"?????????????????????????????? no person shall be responsible for those events which could not be foreseen, or which, though foreseen, were inevitable.
2. I????????????????????????? ? ? ? ??????????H????H???????????H????H? ???a?H? ???a??? ???????????? ???? ??H????????????????????????????????????????????????"
14) 28 Feb, Saturday ---
There is now a Powerbooks stand on the Ground Floor of the Medical Arts Tower of the Medical City. Fantastic, but, no thanks, I brought my own entertainment (not mine, technically, but C's [which one of the 12 you've asked me to read?] Cloud Atlas -- page 75 and, so far, pretty -- well -- entertaining. The pastry bit is rather funny).