It does not matter if it’s the U.S.’s Star Spangled Banner, Mexico’s Himno Nacional Mexicano or my country’s own Lupang Hinirang. Whenever I hear someone singing a national anthem with pride, zeal, and fervor — especially on a big stage, I can’t help but get goosebumps.

It takes a special kind of stupid to botch your own country’s national anthem on purpose. But screwing it up royally, especially in the part where the anthem sticks it up to the colonialists asses, should be a capital offense. You see, the three anthems I mention not only embody the spirit of a nation, at the time they were written they are meant as a statement to the colonial powers that be.

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After two months of waiting, my sister’s Balikbayan box finally arrived. I now have another pile of books to add to my collection:

• Programming Jakarta Struts 2nd ed
• Tomcat the Definitive Guide
• Programming Ruby 2nd ed
• JBoss at Work: A Practical Guide
• Head First Servlets & JSP
• Programming Python

Unfortunately, some of the colognes in the box got spilled on to the Head First Servlets & JSP and Programming Ruby books. They’re still readable, thankfully, but they smell like fruitcake right now so I’m airing them out a bit until the smell wears off.