Decline

    Are you going towards a decline? Or to be appropriate, a dick line.

    There was this tweet from a Taylor Swift fan recently (as most of us know by now Taylor Swift is one o the positive news we're all lucky to have this year, new music!). Anyway, the tweet showed a series of photos shot by her lover, Joe Alwyn, with the caption "Taylor Swift shot by Joe Alwyn".

    At first glance, what did you think were the contents of the tweet?

    A. Shot pertained to the act of shooting a gun;

    B. Shot pertained to the act of having photos, whether portraits or     not;

    C. A glass of liquor, preferably wine; or

    D. The lovebirds became the newest NBA stars enlisted to help an     aging star have a "shot" at the title (Did you see what I did there?)

    Some fans were scared, thinking that the songwriter was shot in a morbid context. Anyway, the correct context of the tweet was definitely letter B. That's the beauty of the English language, or whatever language there is. It can not be defined by a solitary set of words and thoughts. 

    Case in point, the word "shot" can have five different meanings and without going deep into the context, you'd surely get lost.

    With words like these, it's quite often that puns are born out of the premise of having words be spelled and spoken the sway despite having completely different meanings. Most of the time, puns revolving around dark humor are laughable because the reality is the opposite of the prepared joke. However, come to think if the table is to be turned?

    I didn't think that I'd need to think about it until this morning when I woke up to the news of  a mother and son shot by a policeman. Shot. Dead.

    The medium's not a digital nor an analogue camera, but a 9-mm Beretta. The only pictures that emerged from the event where documentation and the mugshot of the suspect. 

    This development, or  decline, (as WatchMojo would often do referring to "Dishonorable Mentions") had an impact to someone who has always been fond of puns and literary contortions. I would never look at that specific joke I mentioned at the start. I could only hope that Justice would wipe her glasses so she could clearly see how justice would have to be served. It just had to be served because a decline like this manifested by taking lives in a cold-blooded manner would never be something that should be taken lightly.

    

    Something needs to be done. It's one of those instances wherein we could safely say that humanity had taken a couple of steps back from evolution. For a moment, we're back at the early moments of this thing they called "Survival of the Fittest".

    Let's take those steps back towards the right path. Avoid a dick line.

Canceled Era

This year has not been going smoothly ever since it took off from where the previous year left.

There have been numerous calamities, whether caused by man or by multiple forces of nature. As of writing, a lot has changed with the way most inhabitants of this world live since I last posted here.

However, it was not until March when the larger portion of my country started taking things seriously. Among other dilemmas that this year has faced so far, it has been the Coronavirus pandemic that has impacted the countrywide enough that every single thing has been canceled or on lockdown. 

Events and gatherings that would require physical human contact had been canceled. No more concert tours from our favorite artists. No more movie screenings in theaters. Bond 25, No Time To Die, was postponed again at a later date (November 2020). The NBA season was canceled along with other sporting events scheduled in 2020. All forms of entertainment, recreation, and cultural activities were either canceled or postponed to a later date. Even schools and most works were also stopped due to the outbreak. 

We really are now in the "Canceled Era". This is a term that has been surfacing social networking sites referring to people who are being judged and canceled by other people due to their actions, beliefs, culture, among other criteria that social media jurors are looking at. However, the big change here is that in this "Cancelled Era", the one being canceled is the life we used to live. Basically, everything that you had planned to do in 2020 when you were having New Year wishes back in 2019 would have to be postponed to 2021, or by the end of the year if we'd be all lucky and blessed. 

It's said that every single day, at least 17 million people celebrate his or her birthday.  With over a hundred days done for this year, that would have to be a lot of celebrants who had wished for this thing to be stopped and be controlled finally.

If I could, and if it does matter, I would give 10 of my future birthday wishes just to give this Coronavirus a blasting send-off, one that would make it rethink about ever coming back in the next century.

But in reality, well-wishers don't really do much aside from boosting the morale of those who actually do the significant things. These are the frontliners who risk their lives trying to save and help save everyone in whatever way they are willing to do. If not for them, we'd all be just added figures to this virus' death toll. THANK YOU!

In line with that, well-wishers (that's us who are not actually doing frontliner duties) could still helpand actually contribute to the send off the frontliners have been setting up for this virus. 

How?

A famous line I've heard for a number of times goes like this, "If you cannot find a solution, make yourself the solution." But I want to change it up a bit to this: If you cannot be a part of the solution, do not be a part of the problem.

We should try our very best to be not part of the problem that the frontliners have already been facing. The problem has been overwhelming for them to handle and it would not help them one bit if we would still be loitering around, or not doing the safety precautions that trusted health experts have laid out to the general public.

It would be best to stay informed regarding the developments made in the battle against the virus because the battle would never go according to plan if there would be misinformation present.

Stay updated. 
Stay at home. 
Stay healthy and safe! 

#GraciasManu

Doesn't it feel eerie that in just one summer, the San Antonio Spurs lost Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Kyle Anderson, and ultimately, Manu Ginobili?

Earlier this day, Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs announced that he will be retiring from basketball after a colorful 16-year NBA career.

Ginobili's announcement

Ginobili achieved success in all of his 16 years with the San Antonio Spurs, that has got to be one of the longest stints ever in one team. But of course, Tim Duncan, the main man of the Spurs' Big 3, played with the Spurs for all 19 years of his NBA career.

Notice how I sued the preposition "with" and not "for". I used "with" because, from my point of view, Ginobili was not just a player that is on the payroll of the San Antonio Spurs office. He was a vital part of the Spurs system, just as everybody in the team is. Everybody is working with one another for the betterment of the team, just as Duncan, Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker, and all of the Spurs team did.

Ginobili and Coach Pop

Popovich spoke about the significance of Ginobili to their system a year before they won their fifth title. He said that it was impossible to win the title with an injured Manu Ginobili. No can do.

Pop and the Big 3 won four championship titles together with role players who gave whatever the team was needed in each of those years. Although Ginobili did not take the Finals MVP honors at the end of the 2014 NBA Finals, I thought that title was because of his performance. This would be because a sub-par performance from him in the 2013 NBA Finals was not helpful for their fight. It can be remembered that he was very apologetic knowing that he did fail to give his best.

Nevertheless, he gave a redeeming performance and helped the Spurs the next year. Four years after, he gave us this announcement of retirement. 

#GraciasManu for the extra four years of showing your clutch shots, razzle-dazzle handles, incredible passing, multiple stealing, and of course, your James Harden block (which has been my cellphone wallpaper ever since you did it).

Ginobili's block from 2017 Playoffs

#GraciasManu for accepting that sixth man role and actually getting that Sixth Man of the Year award.

#GraciasManu for pulling pranks on Timmy, and for catching that bat.

#GraciasManu for everything. There will never be another Manu.

MANU GINOBILI

*Photos are grabbed from the Internet and all thanks are for those who own it. For sharing purposes only. Thank you for understanding.