"Tajuru Paragon:The Elf you are looking for"

 "Tajuru Paragon:The Elf you are looking for"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I used to say that this guy will be the life of the party. And with the Party mechanic being pushed in Zendikar rising you can be sure that those who want to play with that in mind will surely be looking for this guy.

Of course I have my reservations about the party mechanic even if it does fit the feel of an adventuring party in the world of Zendikar , this time exploring the Skyclaves that have risen to the skies with it's rumored artifacts and traps. From a story perspective this new Party mechanic should have you excited.

I am not sure if people would embrace it like the Ally mechanic. I did not hear much about the actually but I will probably try to get a Party started and Tajuru Paragon will surely be a big part of that. 

So a Party consists of a Cleric , Rogue , Warrior and Wizard. They would probably expand this on a later set that is tied in with Dungeons and Dragons(as announced). There are already several spells that would benefit you if you have all of these creature types in your deck. Changelings would surely fit in here right? And my best pal Mistform Ultimus should also fit in as well.

It is still too early to say if this will be popular among players but I might try my hand at it if the pieces will finally be available. Maybe some time in November perhaps?

"Distance: The Ripples that we make. "

 "Distance: The Ripples that we make. "

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Plot:

Distance revolves around a family whose mom has been missing for 5 years. She has now returned to them but she is not sure if this is what they really want.

The Good:

Distance , this word refers to the feelings of Iza Calzado's children in the movie after her unexplained disappearance. Being in their lives mean that they would have to readjust to her presence after a long absence. And the family in the movie is portrayed like any other as they try to eat together and do things as a family should.

Some families have peaceful or fun meal times. This particular family's meal times are filled with awkward glances and long silences. They might talk to each other but you know that those connections are severed or frayed. The husband being strong to bring in the object of his pain. The children not knowing if this person will leave or stay or whatever it is that she is doing here.

In the course of the movie it gets a little better for Iza Calzado's character but the final scene of this movie will reiterate it's title. As the family finishes breakfast you see that the children once again puts up their barriers and the husband though hiding his pain is left with the realization that this will be the situation that they will be in for the time being.

The Bad:

Cheating is bad. Cheating can never be justified but people are people and the heart wants what the heart wants. In this case Iza leaves for 5 years to be with her long time girlfriend who turns out to have a fatal disease that severely shortened their blissful life together. 

Though she has been forgiven by her husband she still need to undo a lot of things due to her actions. And in the movie though she tries and even tearfully apologizes it leads to one thing. More Distance. 

The Ugly:

People and their thoughts and their misunderstandings. The inability to move forward and to experience new things because of this specific hindrance. One can almost be tempted to say get over it but that is now how it really works even in real life. It always takes time and the ugly truth is no one in the family can force each other for that level of forgiveness and acceptance. So for now Distance is the name of the game they will be playing.

"Doc In , Doc out - The Selfishness of others"

"Doc In , Doc out : The Selfishness of others"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

This story happened last month and has stuck with me as I am reminded that there will always be people who value themselves more than others.

So I went to the Portal Area of UP Ayala Technohub to buy a late dinner at the family mart there.These group of 6 women arrived the same time as me on a taxi. I paid them no mind since I was in a hurry but then they complained that the Starbucks was already closed.(11pm na).

One of them said , "Family mart na lang tayo , May Ice cream din dun." So it made me look at them. They were wearing plain clothes so they might be people living in a dorm nearby. I am sure there was still a curfew on so why were they all out if they were not on their way to work or coming home from it? They did not look like they had an emergency. Unless you count craving for Starbucks coffee or Ice cream an emergency. None of my business as far as I am concerned. They were all wearing masks and face shields.

So I went ahead of them to buy my food and drinks. They entered the Family mart with no regard for social distancing. They took off their face shields and lowered their masks to talk to people on their phones. "Asan kami? Gago nasa Tagaytay na kami" One of them said. Another asked the store clerks kung puwede daw ba silang tumambay sa labas ng Family Mart? Huh? Balak niyo pa talagang maghang out. Hopefully magkakasama sila sa isang bahay pero kung hindi we might be seeing a small cluster of infection here.

As I was going out , another woman lowered her mask and was talking excitedly on the phone , to a baby!!! I don't really know anymore.

This is the kind of attitude that would just let Covid19 continue on. May Curfew , nagcrave ng Ice Cream at Kape di bale na kung sila ang mahawa o makahawa sige labas pa din. Nakafacemask at shield pero inaalis din in an enclosed public space.This is why I have lost faith in most people.

220,000 plus cases and yet still here we are with these kinds of people.

As of this posting there are now more than 300,000 cases in our country along with more than 5000 deaths. And yet the Selfishness of others continues.

"My Story - My Mental Health"

 

"My Story - My Mental Health"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

"Ang hilig ni Kuya sa mga beach ano? Puro yun ang My Story niya eh." This was from my sister-in-law who noticed these kinds of things. And yes I love beaches. I also love Castles and Mountains and Torii's. And weird cloud formations from all over the world. I like a lot of things.

There is this page I follow that let's you glimpse all of these beautiful places in the Maldives , Bali or Hawaii. While I wish to go there one of these days the reason I post them is simple. I would rather picture those beautiful places than focus on the hellhole that we are all currently in.

I review protocols and guidelines and enforce them. I diagnose patients and review their cases. Deem them fit to work or be in quarantine for X more number of days. Some days are better than others. Some are not. Do I worry for my family? Yes. Do I worry that we might be ok after all this? Yes. There are many bad things to ponder on. Many things that may still go wrong.

Do I escape all of those things? Nope. I face them head on every single day. And do you know what helps me? Looking at far off places that are absolutely beautiful every time I feel that the things going on in my life is too much. I have a strong support system in My Wife , My Daughter Aven and My Mama Lita but often times I am alone and to cope I look at these places. Picture that I am there. Exploring a Castle high in the mountains , crossing a forgotten river or taking the steps into a Temple Shrine somewhere. For a moment I relax and gain a little strength.

Now I figured that if this helps me then this might help other people relax as well. There is too much anxiety and sadness in the world that I want to share these places. For people to see that there is beauty in the world outside of the 4 walls that we are currently trapped in either by Law or by Choice.

I have also not been writing for the last couple of months as much as I would have wanted to. And the reason I felt is that would it be worth it to continue to write? So I started being consistent in these little things. I post on my stories. I post mtg related jokes and stories on my Flight of Ideas blog page on FB. And after awhile it gave me the courage to write again. 

So yeah I do like the places that I post , I also like feeling how I feel when I look at them. 

"3 reasons why A Quiet place will never be good for me or my family"

 "3 reasons why A Quiet place will never be good for me or my family"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

We all know the ploy of a Quiet place by now. It involves a family trying to survive an earth where Aliens hunt by sound. 

While we were watching this I turned to my daughter Aven and said:

"Well we are pretty much Alien food anak."

We burst out laughing but deep inside there was a reason for that and here are 3 reasons for that.

1) Aven is noisy even when at rest.

She would make crow like sounds , hum to herself or tap on any surface when gets the chance. Not to mention that she really does love talking.

2) My wife and I throat clear like it is no one's business.

We both suffer from Gastro esophageal Reflux Disease and should we ate too little or too much we begin to cough from all the acid we produce. Aven actually recognizes me as I approach the door to my house via my distinctive cough. In fact I theorize that the all hearing aliens would get me as I walk home.

3) We all snore like crazy.

Even if we can voluntarily control all the sounds that we make while awake I am pretty sure that the aliens would track us down and munch on us as we sleep. From Aven's light snoring to my hardcore Jack Hammer/Teeth Gnashing snores there is no way that even the most deaf of these aliens would not be able to pick us out.

It is a good thing that this was just a movie. 

"Bish - More than Like MV reaction: Refreshingly Cute"

 

"Bish - More than Like MV reaction: Refreshingly Cute"

by:

The Vole

After watching Bleach with my family I began my Japanese song kick once again and it has been awhile since I checked on one of my favorite groups which is Bish I decided to look for their latest songs. 

One of the songs that I saw on youtube was More than like. This was released July 3 , 2019. And was even featured as one of the themes for the much loved anime Fairy Tale.

I tried looking for English lyrics because I like this song...well More than liked because I wanted to learn more about it. I am not sure of the translations so I am not going to try and discuss the meaning of this song. 

I just wanted to react to the video and how I was quickly hooked on Bish once again that I started playing this on my drives to and from work.

The MV starts with Chihiro. A blonde  SentoChihiro who was at a bar. I love this hair color on her. The video sort of splits into where all of the members of Bish are and well subsequently merge or divide where members are jumping into each others frames or separating from them. Not the first time I have seen such a thing as Girl on the Height of rudeness also did a similar video but this is the first time that I have ever seen Bish like this.

For once they are not doing weird things or weird things are not being done to them. Nothing overtly sexual or even violent. All through out the video no one is dying. It was a simple , fun video where everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. My favorite  , Aina the End did not look angry or hurt or was about to murder anyone. She looked like a cute , happy person that was part of BISH. All of them did. And it was refreshing.

I am sure it would not last knowing their management so I was determined to enjoy this video even more. hahahhaa

The other thing I wanted to say was that in the last part of the video they seemed to be almost syncing in their choreo and it almost moved me to tears. How much have they improved in their dancing and how much they continue to improve their sound. I look forward to more Bish songs in the future.

"Latom"

"Latom"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

Heart and Flames 

Are both the same

Once reduced to embers 

Nothing then remains

II

All fervent prayers

For this restless soul

Goes up unheard

Goes down misheard

III

Never mistake the cries

Not for Anguish or Mercy

Just the wish to die

Nothing but a filthy lie

Optum , UP-Ayala Technohub , Quezon City. September 2 , 2020. 6:19am