Dragons Don't Land Here

Linux forever!

2010-01-12T13:51:00.002+08:00

I got a new mini laptop from my dad. Not an HP Mini, but an Acer mini laptop. It's so cute because it comes with a small Linux OS. I've taken the challenge of making it into the ultimate Linux companion. I need to be able to take it anywhere with me so I need it to be legal and optimal (hence Linux). I also need it to be compatible to the top 5 things I need a laptop for:

1. To store and edit my photos
2. To study Japanese (ebooks, programs, dictionaries, japanese input compatible)
3. To write stories, blog entries
4. To download stuff - bittorrent compatible
5. To do some minor programming when the bug hits me

So far, I've chosen Ubuntu as my main Linuz OS. It is a user friendly interface and they have an OS especially for small notebooks like mine.

So far, I've downloaded it. However, I need a usb drive for me to install it in my laptop who I now baptize as "L". For Linux, for Life and of course, for the Death Note character. I'm sure Neal will probably try to name his laptop now that I've started the trend.

I'm so excited I want to go out and buy myself a laptop skin for it. LOL.

the new house part 1

2010-01-05T08:35:00.002+08:00

I wanted to create a photo montage of everything that has happened but I was way too busy to actually find the time to get pictures taken. So here's a brief summary of what happened:

Dec 19: Move in date, got most of the stuff from my old home, Anahaw and my dad's apartment into our new home. We are still missing Neal's books from Bulacan. We got them all stuffed into the 3 bedrooms. The dog cages and the gate just got delivered.

Dec 20: Overall status: No chairs, no tables, no kitchen, no dogs, no food to speak of. In the bright side, our appliances, minus the oven, got delivered. On the other hand, since we weren't connected to Meralco directly, we couldn't use any of them T_T. Our kitchen and sala set also gets delivered! Hurray for us! We also borrowed some tools to be able to finish our dining table since we only got the chairs set up. Neal's mom came home so we picked her up and made sure the other bedroom was at least livable.

Dec 21: No one came!!! No deliveries, no workers, nothing! So my mother in law and I went to Alabang Town Center till Neal came home and had dinner there. We also rearranged the house to look like a house. We also bought the one thing that would save us from hunger: an electric griller.

Dec 22: Our sala set and kitchen gets finished. However, we lacked granite so I had to go around canvassing. I wasn't able to get the color I wanted initially but I still got the black one ^_^ The oven also got delivered. It barely made it through the assigned space but at least it did.

Dec 23: Neal started working at home so I at least got someone to help me find laborers to install the granite which was delivered this morning. Neal's mom left early this morning and the gate finally got finished.

Dec 24: The screens got delivered and installed! No more mosquito bites. The granite part of the kitchen has now been finished and installed as well. Woot! Amazing how fast people work on Christmas Eve. However, we still didn't have gas so the kitchen was just somewhat functional.

Dec 25: Christmas! I spent it with my family at ATC hehehe. We also bought an AVR so we could finally plug in stuff. The refrigerator was finally alive!!! Cold water tastes great.

A what?

2009-12-17T08:57:00.002+08:00

I'm not particularly talented in creating Anagrams but I got a site that helped me get the word combinations I could do. I was trying to get an anagram for my entire name. I had to use my new middle name since I needed it to create the word, "dragon". WHat I got was this: "So pia, dragon souls evade land". Which was great since I've titled a lot of things Dragons don't land here. Now, I can explain why using an anagram of my entire name.

Packing

2009-12-17T08:19:00.002+08:00

*Leaving on a Jet Plane playing in the background*

So we are currently packing. It's a good thing my books were already packed or I'd be in trouble. I'm still hunting down the new ones I've read and scattered around the house since we did Spring Cleaning last April. Not to mention all the Japanese books I have been procrastinating from. Neal even packed my bento stuff which is great but easy since they were all in plastic containers anyway.

It's kind of scary because I realize I never really truly just packed up all my stuff to put them in a new house. Sure we did that 2x when we were young but it was more like moving all the stuff we already had into new houses. This time, I won't be bringing anything but my personal stuff.

Questions like, do I bring my old childhood pictures, stuffed toys, old memorabilia from college or even high school, pop up every time I pack. Even clothes are hard to pack. I have to decide whether 1. Are they are really mine? 2. Do they still fit? 3. Can I still wear them and not look silly? 4. Do I really want to waste all that effort going slim just to fit into something I used to wear in college or even high school. (Yes, I do hang on to them) The prospect of buying all new stuff is scary. Books were easier to pack. I just left all my college books, threw my notes and retained all my favorite books. I left all the romance novels and young adult novels that weren't exactly award winning.

We're planning to build a bookshelf in the baby's room for all the books we want to buy our future babies. Including the complete set of Hardbound Hardy Boys Neal and I have been eying since we found out they were still in print. We still know the manager in Powerbooks ATC so we're pretty good in the book department.

It's really hard deciding what to bring. Yes I can go back to get them but I also have to let go. Neal and I have agreed on the 3 box rule: "Keep/Bring", "Throw/Give Away" and "Stay". My dragons can go to the new house but my other cutesy little anime figurines may not. We still don't have bookshelves so it really is hard.

We also have no bare necessities, except for soap which is great because our bathroom is the only complete part of the house. We might not even have a working kitchen because we still haven't bought the granite. We are pretty screwed the first few days. I imagine all the chores and errands I'd have to run alone before the holidays because Neal will be at work. On the bright side, my vacation will start this Saturday, the dogs will have their cages and I just took them to the vet for one last visit yesterday

I'm just ranting and raving at the same blog entry. I'm truly psyched. I'll upload shots of the house we had from start to finish during the holidays. ^_^

another ghost

2009-12-08T18:33:00.003+08:00

I have learned my lesson when it comes to my third eye abilities(if they really are true) I have learned that documenting what has been happening is a good way of checking if my predictions come true.
Right now, I have an aunt who is really sick with cancer in the hospital. I guess I'm really worried and I'm just checking if I still have it.
Even with baby Nathan, I knew something was wrong as early as the 2nd month when I dreamed he wasn't complete and he was born but I couldn't do anything. Then I couldn't sleep the night he died because I knew something was wrong. I just wish I could do something.
This Sunday, I was left alone in the car at night by Neal. That's pretty normal. We do it every week. I stay outside and he goes in the house in Anahaw and I watch the car. This Sunday was different. I almost asked Neal not to go leave me alone. I was so scared. I felt this evil presence lurking around the shadows and it was not human. Besides, I'm not afraid of anybody attacking the car, I'd just run them down or something. No, this was an irrational fear and I could feel him circling the car. I swear, I was so scared I hugged my knees and turned on the lights inside the car and sang as loud as I could till Neal went out. This isn't the first time I've felt ghosts there in Anahaw but it was the first one I felt that was scary.
I hate irrational fears, they usually precede death. Like someone's warning me and I just won't listen. In my defense, they aren't the nice spirits that I usually notice and don't feel afraid of. They seem... well, not evil exactly, but they are up to no good. I hope I'm wrong.
I haven't woken up crying yet. Which is what usually predicts people in my father's side dying.
I just realized I have a perfect way of knowing if the ghost we saw last last week was a ghost or a person. The type of the house will show if it was physically possible for a person to be standing there. I'll update you when we pass by there next week. ^_^

wishlist 2009

2009-12-03T10:19:00.005+08:00

Sometimes I wonder why my wishlist never changes. Possibly because I can't buy the expensive stuff like lenses and all... Anyway, here's my wishlist for 2009.

Anime:
These can actually be found in Comic Alley. They're only PHP 590. Yup Arf, they're not 2.8k anymore. I just can't buy them right now because PHP 590 can buy me a set of drinking glasses and necessities come first.

1. L nendoroid (chibi) figure

2. Haruhi Nendoroid (chibi) figure

Japanese:

1. Japanese books in Nihonggo (elementary books, storybooks, young adult stuff, newspapers/magazines)
2. Murakami's new book 1Q84 (Japanese version)

Books:
1. Any Gregory Maguire books except for Wicked.
2. Science fiction classics found in the list of Science Fiction Masterworks except for the following:

1. The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
2. Gateway by Frederik Pohl
3. I am Legend by Richard Matheson

They are cheap publications ranging from PHP 349 (Available in Powerbooks and Fully Booked to PHP 500 (hardcopy version in Fully Booked).

3. Murakami's Norwegian Wood or if it is already available, the english version of 1Q84

Photography

1. Benro A300EX or A500EX with BH1 (ballhead) PHP 3700 and 4200 respectively though they are currently on sale in Aperture Trading in Banawe. (10% discount)
2. Canon Flash 580 EX PHP 18k in Hidalgo, 21-24K in malls.
3. Sandisk Ultra III or IV 4GB CF card.
4. Canon RC1 remote trigger for Canon EOS 400D
5. Canon 10-22 mm f3.4-4.5 USM

House stuff: (Also known as important stuff)

1. Baking stuff
2. Other household necessities (except for the real basice)
3. not so important but very cute bento stuff (I'm looking for small egg shapers and cute cutters for onigiri.
4. cute bento style lunch boxes
5. Stuff that give extra storage or are just plain cute!

PS3: I still have lots of games to play so this really isn't important.

1. Assassin's Creed II
2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

breakfast

2009-12-03T09:50:00.003+08:00

I just went and searched for one of the few 7-11s here in Ortigas. Anybody whose lived or worked there knows that Ministops can be found everywhere but there are only a few 7-11s in the area. I only know of 2. So instead of waiting for the mall to open, I just had to go out and find myself breakfast. I left at 930 and got back by 945 which includes an elevator ride up and down 11 floors, walking a distance of 3 blocks and buying my food. All in all I got my morning walk and a very cheap breakfast for PHP57 (about one US dollar). I hate the office here because there are very limited breakfast places. Sure there are 4 malls around the area but all the places that sell any food before 10AM are at least 2-3 blocks away and I get to work at 800 AM, sometimes earlier. Unless I opt to eat at very expensive hotels, I have to starve till 10. AT least in the Makati building, all I need to do is go down or walk less than a block to find food.

on ghosts and other things

2009-12-01T08:07:00.005+08:00

on ghosts
Neal and I went to Alabang with Pauline and Ronnie (my sister and her boyfriend) and we had a chance to go through some developing subdivision. We got there at around 7 in the evening and since it was really dark there. Lots of houses built with no one living in them. We only saw one house with people and electricity. We passed by this row of 5 similar houses and I saw a man looking out the window out of one of them. It was strange because I couldn't see his face though he was standing behind a closed window. He was wearing a white shirt and he was bald. I already knew it wasn't possible since workers aren't allowed to stay there and no one is living in that subdivision yet. There weren't even any streetlights yet. When we passed the row again less than 5 minutes later, he was gone. I started getting this cold creepy feeling up my back. I knew it was a ghost. I wasn't the only one who saw him too. Ronnie saw him as well. So I guess the question is, does that make the ghost real? When more than one people sees it? Or does that make him human?

on Watching new moon
Last Friday, Neal had to leave work early. Not because he wanted to but because he had to. They had a policy that day when everyone had to leave the office at exactly 5:30 PM. I love that policy. I wish they would have that more often. Anyway, we had a date night in Greenbelt 3. The only place Neal wants to go to and park. We thought we could catch an early showing of New Moon since it was a Friday and everyone else seemed to have watched it last week but no. The 8PM and 10Pm showing were already booked. We had to settle for the last full show at 11PM. We didn't particularly want to watch it but since the only other option was Christmas Carol and Ninja Assassin, we took our chances with New Moon. Neal even warned me to keep quiet since we will be watching the movie. It turned out, he was the one who couldn't keep quiet. He kept yawning, making comments, and reacting to the movie.
I could have kept quiet throughout the whole thing except for the scene where Alice showed Aro(Michael Sheen, who was a werewolf called Lucius in Underworld) how she knew Bella will be a vampire. I had to laugh out loud. If you have watched it, you'll understand. I'm sorry.
Neal kept making remarks like, "was this written by a thirteen year old? or "this is 300 all over again." So much for being nice amidst die hard fans.
Dakota Fanning has grown old! She's great and she looks so mature but the movie (or should I say the book?) could have developed better. If they were real vampires for instance, Edward wouldn't be having such a hard time killing himself. Where does all his angst come from anyway? Everyone else in his family seems normal compared to him. And true to the Twilight Saga, they managed to make werewolves cute and cuddly. So much for scary vampires and werewolves.

on spending on books
I bought a cheap copy of wicked. Cheap for a new book since it was only 349 pesos. Did I say it was cheap? You'll understand why when I explain what happened next. We bought it in Greenbelt 3 and we knew the person manning the cashier. She pointed out something I never really bothered with: my purse points. She said "Wow, you have a lot of purse points."
I only have 210 purse points in my Powercard and I didn't think it was a lot until she explained it. You get one point for every peso you spend in Powerbooks. For every 1000 points, you get 1 purse point and I have 210.
If you do the math, that's 210 purse points x 1000 points = PHP210,000.00.
I can't believe I've spent that much in books in a period of more or less 12 years? All for personal reading material. Sure I've bought gifts, like an avergae of 1500 every year for Dawn and Arf so that still leaves me with a whole lot of books. I wonder how that will grow now that I'm about to move into a new house?

Wave to Google

2009-11-27T07:59:00.002+08:00

I read Rocky's facebook post and I realize that Google Wave, would be perfect for the DnD aka Dungeons and Dragons group Neal is currently in. I'm actually a part of their mailing list so I know what I have to deal with. The mailing group is a big mess of emails where the group schedules games, talks about their characters ( old ones, dead ones, new ones, characters waiting for other characters to die...), the new plots, their characters' backstories, other related DnD stuff, other non DnD related stuff... You get my point. SOmetimes, though I love reading these mails, the sheer number that their group produces each week can be daunting and it's hard to find the mails that you want to focus on.

Google Wave is perfect for them. It allows people to reply and get their messages in real time. The emails will not get confusing even if someone doesn't reply to the latest email because only one document or wave is kept updated and what's more, you can replay the wave. Replaying the wave is like looking at the email progress from its initial form to the current version, inserting replies as they happen.

I'm actually writing this while I watch the Google Wave introduction during the Google I/O. Secretly, I've wanted to work for Google since I saw their qualification exams for developers. This Google Wave video just makes me want to work for them more.

Go through the website and watch the video. Or if that's not your thing, read the Wikipedia version. It's a tool that may replace all the current online tools you may be using now. It's certainly another brilliant idea from Google.

Basically, I'm also writing this to get an invite from Rocky. Google Wave is a promising OPEN SOURCE(!!) application and the secret developer in me is itching to read the code.

I hope I get an invite.

A very eventful week

2009-11-21T07:15:00.004+08:00

I promise I'll place a picture here. Right now though, since I'm stuck in the hospital I have to make do without one.

Technically, the only noteworthy days were Monday and Friday. The rest of the week was pretty normal. SO far. I still have two days to go.

Last Monday, I was still lying in bed when I heard a big boom. Then the electricity turned off. I wouldn't have stood up but another boom went out. I stood up and started getting all the electrical equipments unplugged. My sister rushed inside the door as well. Apparently a Meralco pole cause the explosion and it was the one nearest our house. We went down to check it out and to take the dogs out as well. They were right beside the gate, near the wires and I didn't want them electrocuted.

Now, I wasn't really worried, we've had around 4 fires in the street in the last couple of years. The wires between the poles near our street are so intertwined it's not even safe to look out the window and reach out your hand if you're on the second floor. However, most of the fires in our neighborhood are short, dangerous but not fatal. No one's ever been killed and the fires thankfully, never reach the homes. It's surprising to see how many people there have fire extinguishers and if you look at the houses in our neighborhood, they're not exactly the kind of people who will be prepared for fire.

So this particular fire wasn't really scary until we got down and heard the news. One of our neighbors was constructing additional levels to their house. They were in the third floor and a welder, was killed. Have you ever seen a man electrocuted by a main line? I didn't want to see his body as they carried him past our house.

We went up again and this time we turned off the main line to our house. Then my sister and I took the dogs out of the cage. We just got back to get our office bags and since our relatives advised us to go out and stay in my aunt's car wash, a couple of blocks away, we left the house with the dogs and ran out. There was smoke everywhere. Later we learned that a fire did break out but someone used a fire extinguisher on it. So after staying near all our other neighbors outside their houses checking the fire, the firemen, the police and our house, my sister and I walked the dogs the long way around to the car wash. Tammy, our oldest dog was clearly out of shape and we gave the dogs water when we got there. However, all the excitement had stopped on our street. The fire was out, the firemen didn't do anything ans since nothing else was happening, our neighbors all went home. So did we. When we got back home, Meralco was already there fixing the line. We got our electricity back around lunch time.

Fast forward to Friday. I woke up and my scalp was itchy. Since Neal was still taking a bath, I tried to go back to sleep again but suddenly every part of my body was itchy. I don't exaggerate. I was itchy everywhere, and my ears felt like cauliflower and when I looked in the mirror, well.. all I can say is, Manny Pacquiao looked better after the fight with Cotto. My face was read, my ears were big, my eyelids were partially covering my eyes. When you watch people getting allergies in the movies, like in Hitch, I always thought that was exaggerated, until that morning.

I was red everywhere. They looked like small insect bites so we did the rational thing and went to the hospital's emergency room after we took a bath. My first choice was St Luke's. It's the closest hospital and I know from previous experience that their emergency room had good doctors. It's a good thing I also had Neal's HMO card, I wouldn't be typing this in a private room if I didn't.

We actually stayed in the emergency room for 6 hours. We got there around 7 and had to wait for a room till 1. I could just imagine myself walking up to the office and saying in a hoarse voice "I think I'm having an allergy attack." My face and my voice was enough to get their attention and I had my diagnosis and medicine within 30 minutes. The doctor said it was Anaphylaxis, an acute systemic hypersensitivity reaction. I get allergies in one form or another every month. Even I was shocked at how intense it was. If you watch House, this happens a lot. Imagine a scene where the camera zooms in to the patient's throat, "tok" the throat clamps shut and the camera zooms out to the patient who can't breathe. That's Anaphylactic shock, the most severe reaction to Anaphylaxis and since my voice was already hoarse, it was already getting there according to the doctor.

I was asleep for a couple of hours because of the medicines they gave me, I slept because Neal told me to go to sleep and I woke up because Neal was already bored and wanted me to keep him company. They gave me diphenhydramine(Benadryl), ephinephrine (adrenalin) and Solu Cortef (I keep forgetting. I'm always dizzy after they give me the Benadryl). The first shots were given directly through the muscle which makes the medicine more effective as opposed to directly in the IV where the medicine can react faster. The muscle shot hurts a lot too. The doctors say the shots hurt but the pain is after they give you the shot.

They kept me in the hospital for more medicines and to keep me under observation. Neal wants to go home and I know this because he has been saying that since last night.

I'm being fed hypoallergenic food. I thought it was fun at first because hospital food amazes me. I really like it and this is the first time my food actually fell into a category different from normal. Apparently hypoallergenic food is not that great because I have to stay away from food I loved: chicken egg, all forms of dairy including milk and chocolate, mangoes, strawberries, watermelons, eggplants, seafood ... The list goes on. I ate almost all of that yesterday which explains my reaction today. Correction, according to Neal, I could have eaten all of that but now I can't for the next few weeks.

I now have an allergologist. Who I may have to see regularly from now on. Funny, my dad never had one and he has more allergies than I do. I'm still here, taking advantage of the WiFi here at the hospital. Neal and I still have tons to do for the house and I want to go back to reality. I still need to take pictures of the home improvements, buy bathroom stuff and hopefully, choose the paint for the rooms. We also need to get permission from Camella to start on the fence outside the house. Arrgh. Too may things to do!

Morning gloom

2009-11-12T08:53:00.003+08:00

I woke up to a bright and sunny morning. I got to work and I was shocked at how polluted our city becomes during rush hour. My friend and I had to get our phones to take a picture. This was taken on the 11th floor of our building. Note that the pollution seems thicker in the north rather than in the south. This is what we are breathing when we go out the street everyday.

new post rules

2009-10-27T08:13:00.003+08:00

I've been thinking about adding pictures to every post. The fun thing is, it will help me develop my skills as a photographer and force me to learn how to fit photographs into my posts. However, I'm so busy right now so I may just use a stack of photos that I already have. Including the one posted here. It was a spur of the moment thing in Pagudpud. The sky was perfect so I decided to make a silhouette shot with Neal as the model. It reminds me of our mountain climbing days. I hope I can post our photos of it here soon.

Research

2009-10-07T13:41:00.002+08:00

There are certain things I want to do this year, or next year if I'm lucky...

1. Study Japanese and pass JLPT Level 3 (December 2010)
2. Go to Japan
3. Go to Prague
4. Go to Greece
5. Revisit Cambodia
6. Go to Hong Kong
7. Go to Bangkok

I need to research though. Hopefully I can go somewhere nice next year. Whichever of the listed destinations are cheapest. Hehe.

bad omens

2009-10-06T10:55:00.000+08:00

I've been scared to go back to bed recently. I haven't been sleeping properly and sometimes I go to the bathroom convincing myself that I just need to pee. The last two nights though have been rough. I feel like someone has been watching in the living room and I can't cross 10 feet (bathroom door to bed) in the darkness without someone awake. That someone is always neal.

I also had a nightmare last night
I dreamt that insects were crawling out of me. At first I though they were just inside my clothes but when I took them off, I realized they were coming from inside me. I had two running stitches on both sides of my body where my skin was just healing. I had one big worm stuck to my ass and I pulled it off against Neal's wishes since he was worried but I just wanted them to go away and I killed it with my hands. I woke up with my butt feeling strangely violated.

A short trip to Google and I found out that the insect type was important. I knew that the insects crawling out of me were cockroaches but the one in me was like a worm from Dune. Cockroaches symbolizes need for renewal and a need to rethink major aspects of my life. The worm is a little more complicated. It was inside me partly and I knew it was feeding off me so it probably represents something negative, a low opinion of myself or negative thoughts (most likely the latter). Freeing myself from the worm even if it was painful means I may be striving to free myself of negative thoughts. Killing the worm after getting it off me is a good omen I guess. After the worm killing thing, the cockroaches stopped coming from inside me and my stitches were partly healed. It's been a while since I've had symbolic dreams.

The ghost hanging around our house bothers me. It's usually a sign of a friend dying. Someone whose death will affect me. I hope everyone is okay.

Tragedy is always a personal thing

2009-09-29T10:10:00.003+08:00

Ever since typhoon Ondoy hit the Philippines last Saturday, news about it have been popping up in Facebook. People have been sharing news and information regarding flooded areas, how to help, videos and pictures on what happened. Ondoy is lucky. It hit Metro Manila, one of the more densely populated areas in the Philippines and it got a lot of media coverage. It was also the highest rainfall recorded since 1967 but the fact that Metro Manila was hit also helped. People were uploading videos and pictures taken from camera phones and other hand held devices. Everyone was aware of what happened.
What you really can't erase from Facebook is the constant updates from Farmville, Mafia Wars, Castle Age, Restaurant City... Yes, people in the Philippines still play these games and they do post items not Ondoy related.
Ondoy is a disaster, yes. But is it something that everyone should focus on 24/7... No.
Unfortunately, disasters are not always considered as a tragedy by all. Though hundreds of thousands of people may be affected, you cannot expect everyone to react the same way you do. Just because you are helping out does not make the person posting about Sesame Street or Farmville less affected. Just because your house is flooded does not mean everyone has to feel sorry for you. People living in Cainta, Marikina and Pasig should be happy they still have houses, if not, they should be happy that they are alive. This disaster affects us in different ways.
I'm just reacting because a friend of mine was angry for all the non Ondoy related posts. I get that his house is probably flooded but the fact that he can still post in Facebook is already a plus. Some people have relatives who died. We Filipinos have close family ties and I'm sure, most of us have families or friends that have been affected.
Tragedy is personal. It is not something that can be shared. To the people who share my friend's anger, I understand you. However you also have to understand other people. Don't expect people to be sad just because you are. You can lose everything in the world but you can never expect them to feel the same way you do.
To cite an example, when my baby died, I was devastated. My family was devastated. My friends and relatives in Facebook all knew that fact but that did not stop them from posting pregnancy or baby news in their wall. Even if they knew I could see it. I don't know if it's just me but for me, back then, that bordered on insensitivity. I knew they were happy but they didn't have to shove it in my face. What could I do? Nothing. Stop reading Facebook posts and just play games.
Life's like that it seems and I learned abut it the hard way. I hope everyone else does too. Maybe the world wouldn't need another Ondoy like tragedy to remind us that we need to accept people and help them when they need it.

Year of Tragedy

2009-09-29T10:08:00.001+08:00

I have been waiting for a while to post this. Personally, I believe this year, 2009, should be called the "Year of Tragedy". I didn't wish it but I felt that other people will also be affected by this. No one is going to come out of this year unscathed. I just wish that everyone will be able to recover.

reviving something almost dead

2009-08-26T15:09:00.002+08:00

I wanted to revive my blog. I started with this once so I'll see if I still have the same answers.

NAME: pia
DO YOU THINK YOU'RE NORMAL: nope
DO PEOPLE FIND YOU STRANGE: yup
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD: yup
DO YOU SIN A LOT: yup tho i try hard not to... there are days when I can do better
DO YOU BACKSTAB: No. I don't even do this in games. I suck at being a rogue.
ARE YOU A GOOD FRIEND:I really really hope that I am
ARE YOU IN LOVE:Yes, I've been in love for so long I don't remember how it felt NOT to be in love.
ARE YOU YOUNG:I will never be old. I never feel like I'm growing old. That may be the secret to immortality. death is just another phase in life.
EVER BEEN A LEADER OF SOMETHING:Yes, events, projects, teams...
EVER KILLED A LIVING CREATURE:ants, cockroaches, flies, some insects bigger than cockroaches, worms, no reptiles yet, no mammals either though I was an accomplice in the death of some mice and SEVERAL huge rats. I think I ran over a flying bird once but I'm not sure.
LAST ODD THING DONE: Define odd? I've done some things that others may think as odd but I believe to be normal.
DO YOU WEAR MAKE-UP:nope. I'm still allergic and I still don't know how to put it.
DO YOU REBEL:yup, in small ways and occasionally in big ways as well.
EVER STARTED A FIRE:small fires to burn small things and big fires to burn big things :)
DO YOU THINK YOU'RE EVIL:i want to believe I'm inherently good but i know I'm capable of being evil.
DO YOU LIKE CHEATERS:it really depends on the situation. I like them if they can help me.
DO YOU REGRET: No, I don't. With everything that has happened, I'm glad I still don't have regrets.
DO YOU HAVE A BESTFRIEND:Yes, a bestfriend can have several definitions, levels and can be several people.
DO PEOPLE HATE YOU:Yep, people might hate me. I can't point anyone in particular though.
DO YOU HATE PEOPLE:I can hate people as an immediate reaction but it never lasts for more than a day.
CAN YOU KILL SOMEBODY:just because i hate them probably not. to save myself and people i love or just care about ( two different things ) i would kill without hesitation.
DO YOU CUT YOURSELF?:Why would I cut myself?
EVER TASTED BLOOD:yup. mine mostly. Neal's blood occasionally...
DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHERS MAY THINK OF YOU?:Nope.
ARE YOU GOTHIC:Now that I think about it... no. I'm a happy sunny person who just happens to like writing about killing people sometimes.
DO YOU SMOKE:It depends on what needs to be smoked.
CONSUME DRUGS:good question.... what do you mean by consume? ;)
WHAT DO YOU WEAR:when i feel like i need to be "pretty" (this is all relative) I really dress up. otherwise I wear shirts and shorts and rubber shoes!this does not apply to work days.
DO YOU LIKE THE SUN:I don't have anything against it but I can't walk under it with my eye wide open ( my eyes are just slits) even if it's not a sunny day. it's one of the reasons my sister believes I'm a vampire.
HAVE YOU LOST SOMEONE YOU LOVE:Yes.
HOW DOES GRIEF FEEL:Like a ghost hanging around the house with a string to a knife sticking out of your heart.
YOUR ROLE MODEL:Haruki Murakami. He writes, he runs, he's a very popular writer in both Japan and America. He can speak and write in Japanese and in English! Well, yes he is Japanese but still...
YOUR HEART DESIRES TO BE WITH WHOM:A little lost dragon named Nathan.
YOUR LISTENING TO:The fan blowing and someone's bad music renditions.
DO U HATE YOURSELF:I think I might hate myself just a little right now.
EVER GET DRUNK? :I've been trying to get drunk, very unsuccessfully. Got really close several times a couple of months ago but my liver always fights back.

The Lost Dragon

2009-05-11T13:19:00.003+08:00

I created a new blog for baby Nathan. I just really wanted to have something to remember him with and this would be a good thing to leave his future brothers and sister so they can also remember him.

The Lost Dragon.

In Memory

2009-04-28T15:48:00.003+08:00

Nathaniel Jean Gabriel Dalusong Saveron

April 18, 2009 (1:11 PM)
April 20, 2009 (5:27 AM)

He lived for 1 day, 15 hours and 16 minutes.
Touched the lives of over a hundred people, most of which didn't even see him alive.
He will always be in my heart after he spent 9 months under it.
He'll watch over us until we join him.

Farewell to Flickr?

2007-12-08T18:02:00.000+08:00

I am in the process of migrating my photos from Flickr to here. It's nice how I can do it in bulk.
These albums have gone from Yahoo to Flickr, and now here.

Hope its stays for good this time.

2007-11-01T23:36:00.000+08:00

new pics are up ^_^ it's the singapore part of our honeymoon. just click on my flickr link

Bayon!

2007-10-08T14:02:00.000+08:00

Yup, the small one in green is me. This was taken at Bayon Wat in Cambodia, part of our honeymoon trip last September. Pictures will follow soon, i hope. I am going to try to start blogging again! Yes, I know you've heard that like 5 times already hehe. But I'm serious this time, no excuses. ^_^

late quarter life crisis

2007-04-18T00:23:00.000+08:00

It's kind of weird that im 27 and im just starting to have my quarter life crisis. i've always tackled life one day at a time. I've had plans, never long term ones but at least enough to give me a good start in life. i always love to try new things and if you look at what i do, i constantly try to find ways to challenge myself: learn a new language, play a new sport, force myself to write...
yet i take life way too easy. i still don't know what i am going to do with it.
so now... 4 months before my wedding i'm panicking because i don't have any direction.
i like my career but if i could change it i probably would. i love to travel. so anything that will get me to a lot of places and challenge my brain at the same time is great. if only i could find the right job ^_^
a friend of mine once asked me: "what would you be doing today if you didn't have to go to work?"
so starting today i will answer that question. hopefully, i find my answer.
been going to the gym everyday. well, 5 times a week. went swimming last week ad im going wall climbing tomorrow.
but the real question is: what would i be doing if i didn't do all that tomorrow?

btw. please check out chaotic weddings. hehe will probably update that more. i hope.
well... hope is free.

updates!!

2006-06-26T23:42:00.000+08:00

Current situation : (or excuses as to why i am not updting my blog)

Things I have to do everyday
work
study for masters
study for my jap class
take care of the doggies
write!!!!

Things I want to do (take note of the word "want")
go bungee jumping in clark (1k per jump) i have to wait for my sister though
buy ETERNALS #1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will go to SM tomorrow. With or without my lunchmates.
Read books again... have to finish Kafka on the Shore, Haunted, Wind Up Bird Chronicle, Jonathan STrange and Mr Norell... the list goes on.
and oh yeah get married hehe sorry neal...

By the way, Tin already gave birth. You can check it out at her site. Seth is a cute baby who's probably going to keep their hands busy but their hearts happy. Congrats you guys! Now the real work is about to start ^_^

nothing to do... random posting

2006-06-13T00:19:00.000+08:00

Pia, your true color is Red!

Your color is red, the color of racy sportscars, blushing cheeks, and luscious roses. Red symbolizes passion, romance, and love. So, since you're ruled by red, you probably trust your feelings more than your brain and tend to act spontaneously. If you see something you want, you go for it without thinking twice — impulsive is your middle name. You don't wait around for people to make decisions, either; you dive right in. Quite the romantic, you pay close attention to your emotions. In fact, if your heart isn't in what you're doing, you won't be satisfied. Of course, even when you do pour all your energy into the projects you tackle, your impetuous nature means your passions can shift as frequently as the wind. That's why some reds have trouble with commitment. Our advice? Next time you're feeling fickle, think before you act, if possible. You might be surprised at the results. Overall, though, it's great to be red. No one lives life more completely than you do.

vacancies in heartbreak hotel

2006-06-12T21:09:00.000+08:00

a short plug for writers more dedicated to their craft than i am now T_T

We're a new publishing company on the lookout fororiginal short works of fiction in English that arelight, straightforward, and make for enjoyablereading.For our first short story collection, the theme is"Heartbreak." Send your contributions tocozyreads[at]gmail[dot]com, or email us for moreinformation.(And yes, we know getting your heart broken can behilarious too--at least at one point, and maybe ifyou're the morbid sort--so we're also open to storiesthat deal with heartbreak, uh, differently.)Heads up for the next collections! We also needstories on the following: (1) the joys and woes of"First Love" and (2) finally getting into thatmuch-coveted relationship--and maybe finding out thatit's a "Match Made" in heaven, or in hell, or, evenworse, in relationship limbo. ***Submission guidelines: All contributions must beencoded in 12pt Times New Roman, double-spaced on an 81/2 x 11 inches page with one-inch margins on allsides. Minimum no. of pages is 6, maximum is 10. Thedeadline for submission of "Heartbreak" stories is July 12, 2006***

can't blog

2006-06-12T20:50:00.000+08:00

this is actually a test for my GF. she's panicking 'coz she can't update her blog...

cheer up, baby!

neil gaiman interview

2006-02-13T00:52:00.000+08:00

sorry i promised myself i would study but i saw this link in the email to Neil Gaman's interview. By the way, thye link works but it takes a while... almost an hour on my DSL connection at 12mn so I guess a lot of people are watching it or they're just slow. It's so cool. I've been a fan for more than 10 years now and I have never been a fan for so long.
I also realized that I can't fall in love (or to be precise, be in love) with someone who doesn't share my love for Gaiman. hehe it's a good thing my own Neal loves him too. He won't admit it and during the signing here in the Philippines he was all I'm cool about meeting you (well he was supposed to pretend he was just cool about it) but when he asked for a hug too I knew he was hooked. I had Neil Gaiman stalked so I still rank higher than him though hehehehe.

ok so one week isn't so bad.

2006-02-12T23:06:00.001+08:00

just woke up from "wathcing" Dragons:A Fantasy Made Real. I was actually looking forward to it for two weeks. Alas, one week of having the DSL meant sleepless nights not from studying or writing or reading or blogging but of playing. Yup if there was a Gamer's Anonymous, I probably would be a candidate. Not that I would go since I don't want to kick the habit.
I was playing RF online until this Saturday. A week ago, ask neal if he was ever going to play WoW (World of Warcraft) he would have said no and that he was going to stick to RF no matter what happens. Which of course changed because he was playing it behind my back last week. He's now got a gnome warlock.
Being an Accretia is not bad. Yeah we pretty much lose wars pretty much all the time but it's not because we're weak. Mostly it's because there are no Accretian players in the Philippines. Come on there are times when I play in an area all by myself even when it's not too late. I'm sure the other races, Cora and Bellato have more appeal. Bellato being related to the Gundams and Cora are the beautiful magic users. I wanted to be a Bellato so I could try the Mao but noooo. Everyone who was to be in our guild was an Accretia, I had no choice and now they're all in WoW.
I did love my name though, Demosthenes. Though I chose the name because of another reason, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. One of the best science fiction stories I have ever read. In it, Demosthenes is Ender's sister's Valentine's political code name. She and their older brother Peter, who picked the name Locke became two of the greatest political minds of their time, while they were still kids. Demosthenes was the more violent activist, pressing for change while Locke was the passive voice.
Unfortunately I'm blogging to stop me from playing WoW or RF because I have to study and I have an exam I am completely unprepared for this friday not to mention homework due on wednesday...
I seem to be back in the good old days except these days, I ahve the money to support my habit because I work... Now if only there were more hours in a day...
Who am I kidding. I'll probably just play more.
By the way, my flickr is more updated. Gaiman pics are there and my puppies pics (who are now sooo much bigger than the cuties in the pics are). Just check them out and though they're old news, i'll fit them in somehow.

ok so one week isn't so bad.

2006-02-12T23:06:00.000+08:00

i'm back ^_^

2006-02-05T23:20:00.000+08:00

finally got my new computer and a DSL connection. Happy times are here again. Actually I've had the connection since yesterday but apparently gaming is the top priority. That and downloading rome, elizabethtown and mirrormask (shhhh). Happy, happy me. I'll probably officially start blogging tomorrow. I'll probably get some pics up once I put all my photos back here. Done lots of stuff since I've stopped which is around 7 months ago.
Today I actually got into a ride that made me want to cry in the middle of it and another one that made me stop because i was too dizzy and really wanted to puke.
I went to EuroStar with mom, pau and neal. Pau and I were too excited and rode the joker first. The Joker is this catapault like ride which looks like fun as long as you're standing on the ground. When it starts plummeting you to the ground and you realize that you're suddenly not sure it is a safe ride because it cannot possibly be a safe ride the way you're hurtling in your seat. It defies reason. It feels like the seat you're on and the harness, a simple neck brace and a seatbelt strap is NOT enough. Then it stops with you on the top end of the ride and it's not the height that bothers you. It's the fact that you can't scream loud enough to tell them that you want to get off the ride right now, as in NOW.
I've never felt that before except for the second time we rode the bungee jump ride (The Abyss Turbo Drop) in Ocean Park when my fear of heights kicked in and I was insane enough to think that if I can get off the ride (while it was 100 feet or so off the ground), I will be safe.
Unfortunately I knew it would actually go for another spin before I could go down so I stopped screaming and just concentrated on seeing my life flashing before my eyes.
Though I must admit, the second spin felt more harmless because we were going the opposite direction and thus not aware we were hurtling toward the ground.
The next ride we rode was horrible because it made us dizzy. I thought it was like a simple octopus. It wasn't. Of course Pau and I realized it too late. When we saw we were parallel to the ground 30 feet high and spinning like crazy. It also didnt help that I was dislocated (nothing too serious) from my seat and had to hold on for dear life until the ride stopped. I was pretty banged up and Pau was just too dizzy to do anything.
I was so off balanced. I kept asking her if she was ok and she was thinking how the hell I could still be happy and active.
I was just trying to keep myself from puking at that time and concentrating on something else felt better.
After a while Neral and I just walked and I still felt like puking most of the time. I was so out of it I was seriously a bit frightened on the ferris wheel while I was with neal. Who by the way was also frightened. ^_^ We couldn't move but we took a lot of pics and after a while I was laughing again and I was ok again.
I even rode the log jam type of ride. Got extremely wet because I was in front and neal hid behind me when we dropped.
Would I do it again? Maybe. Maybe in around 3 years when I've forgotten how it actually felt. Or when they develop an emergency stop button on the ride. ^_^* oh well.
I hope I can find someone to go with me that time.
Yup, I haven't officially started blogging yet at this rate. Have to go to sleep now.
I have a feeling my dreams will be of falling not flying.
I hate falling.

where i say goodbye to the hard but happy times

2005-06-10T17:02:00.000+08:00

this is it.
last day of my work here in alabang, as a design engineer. next week, i'll be a software engineer/graduate student.
i feel sad. i'll miss the familiarity and the comaraderie. i doubt i'll be able to find a company like eazix. we're small but close, dedicated to our jobs but we know how to take breaks. besides the fact that we're probably the only company who allows people to go to work in casual clothes.

most of all i'll miss my work because of the projects. this job made me realize why i chose my profession or my college course for that matter and i hope i will never lose my drive to do better in my field.

so i am sitting here, trying to cram th most out of my afternoon before neal gets here to pick me up.

i had the best first job ever. i'll never forget it.

anyway. that's it.

old habits die hard

2005-06-08T14:08:00.000+08:00

I was so excited yesterday, eager to go to my first class (without a decent notebook but who cares?) and there was a note on the door saying "no classes today". Arrgh. I should have expected that from my prof. He still hasn't changed.
I still haven't changed. Instead of going home, I went to johann's. Neal was there and he wqas sort of expecting me so I drove there.
Dong's car was on the driveway and I suspected a game brewing. I was right. Carding was also there.
I went in just in time to see them playing Rumble Roses (?) a wrestling game full of women with big bouncing breasts. Yup, close ups don't lie.
They were also going to start playing their latest campaign. For those of you who read neal's fantasy blog, it's already chapter 6. Yup, he's 4 chapters behind.
I missed being in one of their game sessions. Things can get really loud and funny.
I took out my digital cam and we took pics of me, jo and carding then a pic of neal and dong. After that carding played around with the bag of holding and even got neal in it. ^_^
For those who have no idea what a bag of holding is, i found this site. It's generally a bag that apears to be normal but can open up and store items in another dimension. Remember how Mary Poppins bag was like? It's basically the same.
It was fun staying there making jokes and relating this to the Order of the Stick web comic. (i order you guys to read it! It's worth it. Although some jokes may require basic knowledge of DnD) It was also fun because they fought a dragon.
Then lei also came and I finally met her. I don't have to wait for the next presidential dinner.
I also asked if I could join. Jo said yes so I rolled for my character. My first 5 rolls were pathetic and even neal tried to roll a good set for me but couldn't. I think i really was reserving my good luck for the raffle hehe.
Before I left, I rolled a set for the last time and I just didn't look at the dice. I got the best set : 10, 12, 17, 11, 17, 14. Enough for a rouge/ranger! The good old days.

2005-06-07T13:23:00.000+08:00

Life can be weird. This week definitely borders on weird.
It's my last week at work. I realized that there are some people I would probably miss.
I won't miss going to such a far place and waking up early though.
I would miss the free internet.
Just when we've got a really fast connection too.
Classes start this week as well.
Both my subjects are more on math than electronics.

I just found out that Fully Booked will be milking Neil Gaiman's trip for all it's worth.
You need a book signing pass.
To get a book signing pass, you need to buy either a graphic novel or 2 neil gaiman books.
You can get two items signed at any of the signings for each book signing pass and at most 2 book signing passes for each signing. You have to go to the back of the line after the two passes are used.

There's also a raffle ticket for ever neil gaiman book purchased prizes at stake are :

1st Prize - Complete "Sandman" series (1-10), signed by Neil Gaiman AND dinner with Neil Gaiman on July 11,2005 (together with winner ofthe Art Competition).
2nd Prize - "Marvel 1602" signed by Neil Gaiman
3rd Prize - "Creatures of the Night" signed by Neil Gaiman

Please please let me have the first prize! As if the complete SIGNED Sandman series wasn't enough dinner with neil gaiman is a dream come true! Seriously just imagine the conversation! I'm putting all my good luck on this one hehe. I'm taking all my dreams of talking to him and getting things signed (4x last dream was this weekend) as a premonition.

I also wish I was a great artist instead of being a hopeless amateur with sketches of chibi endless because there's also a drawing contest and neil gaiman will pick the winner.

Criteria for Judging: Creativity (25%), Originality (25%), Skill (25%), and Impact (25%).•
First Prize – Original Artwork from "Last Temptation" signed by Neil Gaiman AND Dinner with Neil Gaiman on July 11, 2005 (together with the winner of the Neil Gaiman raffle)
Second Prize – "Mirrormask" signed by Neil Gaiman
Third Prize – "Murder Mysteries" signed by Neil Gaiman

Aaaarrrgghh wish I had more money or maybe I can be like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory and need only one chocolate bar.

All that and the idea of what to say when I actually get something signed. Blurting out "your work is great" (duh!) or "im your biggest fan" (movie star reaction) or "please lend me your brain so i can write something great" may all be out of the question.

Still, if you are getting something signed by an author you like, you have this urge to say something witty and memorable when you're actually face to face.

I got that urge with eve ensler. I was standing in line panicking about what to actually say than just nod and say hi. Neal made it easier for me to not look like i was panicking coz he was tense. In the end I got to meet monique wilson and i got invited to watch Vday with them which is NOT so bad. Not bad at all.

I just hope he likes his visit and comes back often or I can actually migrate to a country he usually does signings. Anyway, I'm sure all of his fans would try to show him that he should come back.

By the way, my friend finally found the neil gaiamn signed postcard. Hopefully, it won't get lost in the mail. The last time something from Canada was sent to me, it went on a short vacation in Thailand.

movies, gadgets and the search for the ultimate thesis project

2005-06-02T12:05:00.000+08:00

I practically ran from my office yesterday just to make it in time to watch Sin City in Gateway. Well, I drove so it was partially ok. The problem was it was raining and as usual, cars slowed down and the SuperHighway was once again super slow.
I only have to endure this for one more week. I should be grateful.
Anyway, neal and I actually got good seats.
The movie was great, the director chose to intermingle the stories though he didn't arrange them according to a timeline and the movie was so faithful in their adaptation that if it was narrated on the comic, it would probably be narrated in the movie.
The action scenes were a bit unnatural. I love the way the bodies fall or get thrown, they follow the comics style instead of normal gravity.
My favorite scene was when Jackie Boy's (Benicio Del Toro) body was talking to Dwight (Clive Owen) while he was driving to the pits. Even the girl beside me stopped clinging to her boyfriend for a while to laugh.
I hated the fact that they slapped an R13 rating on it because they thought kids will watch it because it is a comic book adaptation. I hated it because they cut a lot of brutal scenes or naked scenes. I don't hate it because I wanted to see those scenes but the way they cut it out was horrible. It was too obvious and the story jumps, lines are lost and it made the movie choppy for the first 20 minutes.
Well, I'm waiting for the DVD copy anyway and they pretty much gave up chopping up scenes in the last half of the movie.

Next movie I'm looking forward to is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (june 24).

I'm also looking forward to Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (adapted from the Diana Wynne Jones book). The movie has now been dubbed to english and has a Disney website.

I'm going to enroll for my master's tomorrow. The hardest part in getting my masters is looking for a really cool cutting edge thesis project. Something unique that no one else has done before and something that I can do before some big corporation beats me to it. Simple isn't it? *insert sarcastic tone here*
Anyway, to get stated on my idea search, I looked for gadget websites like Think Geek and the "we make money not art" web site. If anyone else knows other nice gadget or high technology sites please tell me. \^_^O thanks

2005-06-01T07:33:00.000+08:00

You Are The Key Character
"It's what I was meant to do."

You are the true enigma. No one knows much about you, you do not understand much of yourself, and your life seems to carry no purpose. Yet regardless of everything around you - everyone knows that you are here for some reason, even if no one yet knows what that is. Things seem to simply fall into place for you. Almost as though some force is working either through you, for you, or around you. No matter your troubles, ou have been sent here to unlock something. This is your destiny.

Which Classic Story Role Do You Play?

Quizilla

-- I blame this on all the time I spent making up stories in my head when I was a child.

tag you're IT!

2005-06-01T06:45:00.000+08:00

Total volume of music files on my computer:
6 Gig! I was actually shocked I still had so much. I though I had already placed most of them in CDs. Arrgh have to buy more CDs.

Last CD I bought:
Parokya ni Edgar Inuman Sessions Vol 1 -- yeah its been a while since I bought a new CD

Song playing right now:
Swing Life Away - Rise Against I just love this song

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
well basically these are songs I can play over and over again without getting tired of it.
Name -- Googoo Dolls makes me feel safe for some strange reason
Ghost In You -- Counting crows -- calms me down the way Live's Throwing Copper album does.
Don't Change Your Plans -- Ben Folds Five -- really haunting song about loving someone and letting go.
Thank You Friend -- You are under arrest. I barely understand the lyrics to this Japanese song but I feel like it's the story of my old crushes.
Comfortable -- John Mayer -- Somehow, deep down inside me, i know that if neal and I ever broke up, this is how I'd feel.

Five people I’m passing this to:
Dawn -- i know she loves listening to songs and will be able to answer this faster.
Neal -- coz he would love to answer this survey
Tin -- so I get an idea on her fave kind of music since I also like the Yoshida Brothers
Johann -- because I am curious since its been a while since we talked about music
Rej -- Just found out months ago that this gal is a big star wars fan so what about her taste in music?

Welcome to level two

2005-05-31T10:08:00.000+08:00

Mt Sembrano expedition

Mt Sembrano was suppose to be the first mountain we climbed. I'm glad that it didn't push through the first time because I doubt neal and i would have wanted to climb another mountain after that. It is a level 2 (both hands and feet are used to climb) , minor climb (1 or 2 days climb)mountain in Rizal. By far the highest peak we have climbed at 700+ meters above sea level. Mt Gulugod Baboy was only 470 meters and Mt Daguldol was 670 meters above sea level. The Daguldol climb was a longer walk and Sembrano was shorter though a lot harder.

Some mountains require that you register your name before you climb. Though they usually don't check if you do come back alive. ^^ anyway in Mt Daguldol we were required to hire a guide but in Sembrano we only needed to register at the Barangay Hall. People who don't register are forced to go back (well at least one of you is) and that's a waste of time because you might have gone a long way by then.

After registering, we walked 5 blocks to the foot of the mountain. While walking, we had a good view of the mountain and we were trying to see which peak we would end up in. The first part of the climb was reminiscent of the Gulugod Baboy trail but instead of a steep paved road, the trail was a steep rocky road. A few houses were up the mountain and after 30 minutes, we reached the jump off point. At the jump off point, we rested and said a prayer before we went on our way.

Neal also decided that his jogging pants were way too hot for the current weather so he decided to transform his jogging pants into short shorts before we went on. Neal has certainly come a long way since when we first became a couple, he wouldn't even show his legs in public and now, he even let me take a picture of him.
The itinerary told us that we would only need to turn right once. However we found ourselves facing several forks o the trail, all of them seemed to be leading the right way. None of us have climbed the mountain before. There were only 9 of us and Ronie was the only veteran so we decided to call Leo who had climbed the mountain 2 weeks before.

We had to find our own shaded area while we waited for directions because there were barely any trees on that part of the trail and the sun was hot.
When we were finally on the right track, we made our way to the Manggahan campsite. This campsite is situated around the middle of the mountain named because of the mango trees surrounding it. Five minutes down trek from this campsite is the waterfall where we planned to take our lunch. We were all hungry before we reached it but we pushed through because we wanted the waterfall to be our reward. We almost stopped if we hadn't met a girl and her small brother going down. They assured us that we were near our destination and we pushed on until we reached it.

We all decided the waterfall would be a better spot to eat lunch so we headed there.
Leo informed us earlier that the water was cool and refreshing and that there was fresh water that could be used for drinking and cooking at the left side of the waterfall.

The water was cool and refreshing. We put our water containers in the pool to cool them a bit and we washed up.

We took pictures and rested for a while as we waited for the sun to pass before proceeding to the next part of the climb. We had to conserve our strength coz the next part was harder than the first.

After around an hour of resting, we packed up our stuff and continued with our climb. This was where we coined the title "Welcome to level two." If we thought the first part was steep, the trail was now almost 90 degrees. We had to find handholds and footholds as we climbed. It was hard because we were carrying heavy bags and it was a good thing we found wooden sticks to use like in Daguldol.

As you can see from the picture, I'm the small figure at the top with the orange mat sticking out of my bag. Distance between climbers is important when the trail is steep.
After another hour or so, (time has no meaning to us when we're climbing and none of us had a watch which didn't double as a cellphone) we broke through the foliage and finally saw the Peak 1 and 2.
We took another long break because the climb to peak 1 was steep and the sun was still high. We hid under small trees and rested. Two people in our group who both had Sun's call and text unlimited even called each other for fun.

When it was around 4pm, we decided to go up peak 1. After around 15 minutes of hard climbing we finally reached it. We practically collapsed on the site and entertained notions of setting up camp there, possibly our fifth "let's just set up camp here" jest.

However we had decided to camp at Peak 2, around 200 feet higher than our present location. There was no other way except to follow the trail down peak one before going up again.
The trail to peak two was surrounded by high grass which hurt if you didn't have arm warmers on like neal. He had scratches all over his arm and legs. It was also very tiring. I have to admit I almost gave up. Neal and I got left behind and I even left neal behind as well when I got enough will power to finish the climb.

The clouds were heavy and thunder and lightning were present and made us hurry so that the tents would be set up before rain fell.
Fortunately for us, rain didn't fall. It seemed like the clouds were all around us but not on top of us.

When we all got to the summit, we set up our tents, all three of them. Another group of four people shared the campsite with us. People started to prepare food and we realized that we had no can opener. I didn't bring any because we brought easy open cans but the others didn't.

Good thing Madz brought Jason along because he knew how to open a can with a spoon. Yup, he actually opened it, not just pierced it.
The first thing we noticed was that there were hundreds of insects. This was a new experience for me since the other mountains didn't have this many insects.

At first it was nice, seeing different kinds of insects until some of the insects started attacking us and getting inside our tents. I spent most of my time killing insects that came in our tent and hiding from the ones outside instead of taking pictures of the sunset.

Since there were a few of us, we didn't have to cook a lot and we were finished cooking before the sun went down. At least we were sure we weren't including insects in our food.

We ate a nice meal of corned beef, rice and another soup based viand Belle and Mabel cooked. We all took a break after meals before proceeding with our socials. Since there were only 9 of us, we thought that the socials will be quieter than the previous ones. Marco, the "emcee" for the socials decided that a more personal approach was better than jokes. We all had to drink because they bought 2 bottles of gran matador brandy, it was the first time i drank brandy but it wasn't that different from gin so it was fine.

We got to experiment with different mixtures of brandy and orange juice as we looked for ways to conserve our water.

After several rounds of questions, we started to play games. We played several games like the movie game, math game, topic game and even spin the bottle. The movie game is easy enough if your mind wasn't blank from the brandy and if you knew enough movies that start from A to Z. The person who couldn't supply an answer had to drink. I pride myself with my knowledge of movies but under pressure i can't think of movies starting with J or K.

The next game was the math game. I think for me the math game was the best game that night. It had complicated rules and the same people kept making mistakes and the more drunk you are, the more mistakes you make. The topic game was simple too, just give a topic and everyone should keep giving items related to that topic and make sure no one repeats someone else's item.
Of course i don't have to explain spin the bottle. Though our version changed rules so often because it was a "truth or consequence/spin the bottle" game where you had no escape.

We stayed up pretty late, the moon was full and the storm was still brewing around us. Lightning struck but not a drop of rain fell so the night sky was really beautiful. We placed the lamp far from us so the insects gathered there. Late in the evening, the biting insects stopped attacking us and we didn't have to look silly suddenly slapping ourselves.

We all slept and woke up around 5 or 6 am. The wind wasn't that strong since we were surrounded by tall grass. We all decided to have our breakfast at the waterfalls since most of us had very little water left. Neal and I got extra drinking water from the falls but we still didn't have enough. We just ate some biscuits and cookies and packed our stuff.

The people we shared the campsite with were also packing up by the time we left. There were two other groups camped at Peak 1. Peak 1 is like the Gulugod Baboy peak. It was just grassy and the wind probably blew hard that night so our campsite was better not just because of the fantastic view.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention there was not a single piece of poo in the vicinity. Yup, apparently farm animals can't climb level two mountains.
When we passed Peak 1, the other group caught up with us. Well, who am I kidding, everyone we left behind in the campsite were experienced climbers and soon passed us.
We were still surprised that we have come so far.
The descent was easier than the climb. The only problem was that you had to make sure you didn't put too much weight on your knees and that you didn't slip since the trail was steep. Most of the time, sitting down on the ground and making your way down slowly was the only safe way.
Within an hour we reached the Manggahan camp site. We passed by a durian tree and Ronie, climbed the tree to get one. In the Manggahan campsite, a woman was selling coconuts and we bought a lot. We refilled some of our water bottles and drank to our heart's content. We talked with the woman about our durian and she told us we got one that was not yet ripe. She said she had a few pieces kept at home. Some of us bargained with her and we convinced her to give us some of the fruit in exchange for the unripe durian. Since we were nice to her and her two kids, she told us that there was another waterfall slightly higher and stronger than the one we went to and it was only a 5 minute trek from where we ate lunch yesterday.

We said thank you and immediately went down to the falls. True enough, there were already people there, the same people we shared the campsite with the night before. We also told them about the falls but they didn't go look for it anymore. They left before we got breakfast started.

Neal, erik and I were the first to explore the way to the other waterfall. The trail to it was sort of hidden at the side of the mountain. The way to the other waterfalls involve a bit of rock climbing. It was a good thing we decided to leave our bags. The hidden waterfalls was beautiful and the water was strong. The falls was hidden from view unlike the first one.

Inside the cavern there was an altar of sorts: Flat rocks on top of each other from the largest one at the base to the smallest one at top. We even walked a bit to the edge of a small river which fell into the other waterfall. The stream from the hidden waterfall to the edge was slippery but I was wearing my slippers so I wasn't afraid to get wet and I wanted to feel the cool water on my feet and legs.

After breakfast, we continued on our journey down the mountain. Before another hour had passed, we had already reached the jump off point. Ronie suggested we eat lunch there, take a bath and pass the time since it was already noon. We all agreed and settled down. We gave the rest of the durian fruit away to be cooked with tuna. Taking a bath was one of the best ideas during that weekend. I felt really refreshed after it. We all ate lunch and waited for the rest to finish their baths.
One of our fellow climbers decided to go home early since he lived in Rizal and he wasn't in the picture we took before going home.

We left around 30 minutes after him and rode a jeep to the market and another FX to Shaw Blvd. There, we finally satisfied our craving for slurpee, one of the things we wanted up in the mountainThings i learned
1. A fan, yup a simple wooden, foldable fan is great. You don't have to wait for the wind to get cooled.
2. A sleeping mat is definitely worth it.
3. Level 2 mountains make your body hurt immediately after the climb.
4. Don't come early or on time. Sorry still haven't learned this.
5. Take more pictures. Bring more batteries.
6. The less people come, the more stuff are likely to be forgotten like butane, can openers...
.

Monday stuff

2005-05-30T10:58:00.000+08:00

Before I post another long entry about another mountain, will just get these things out of the way:
First of all, Neil Gaiman is coming to Manila this July 9-11. He's confirmed it and so has Fully Booked. Join the yahoo group to get emails about the event. Read the Anansi Girl's blog to see the poster and for other details.

Just realized I'm going to be leaving work in two weeks. I don't think it has sunk in yet since been busy with a project and trying to get enrolled for my masters at the same time.

Project's been cancelled which is kind of sad and my enrollment is going well.

The only thing I'm concerned with right now is how best to save all my documents and put them in my home computer. Especially my 3 Gig worth of e-books and 5 Gig of music. Also I won't be able to blog as often as I used to since an intenet connection is not that easily available in my next job.

I'd just like to say I want this robot ^_^ as a companion and I would like to introduce a brand new comic johann *demanded* i read called The Order of the Stick. I loved it. Anyone who has played pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons will love it. It's very funny.

Of course I'm also promoting Neal's fantasy blog called Adventures in Faraway Realms where he writes about their campaigns. It's just starting but it's a fun read. Trust me, playing with those guys are fun. That's probably why I love Order of the Stick. Their craziness is comforting.

I also watched Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. It is better than the first two prequels. There were cringe moments in the dialogue. The acting did kind of suck but there were funny moments and really cool effects. I thought the whole Anakin to Darth Vader thing was not as good as it could have been. Oh well, at least it is finished.

Though neal left for work right after the film, my mom and my sis went with me to Coffee Bean. It was our first time to go there so we didn't know what to expect. I ordered a Moroccan Mint Tea Latte and it was heavenly! I love my beginner's luck, it always lets me buy really good food during my first visit.

I loved it so much I kept metioning it to my mom and sis all night until the next day. I'm sorry but it made Starbucks look and taste so normal.

The next day I splurged on the original DVD of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Princess Bride. I didnt get to buy new shoes which I needed for the new job though I was able to get 2 new blouses.

Arrgh I need slacks and shoes. All I have are jeans and rubber shoes. I can't wear my boots everyday! What's a great store for these things people? I need to shop.

every climb brings new items

2005-05-27T08:32:00.000+08:00

The Mt Daguldol Experience

I just realized I haven't said a word about the last climb and we've already climbed the next one o^_^o.

Mt Daguldol is in San Juan Batangas. If I once thought Anilao was the farthest part of Batangas, I was wrong.

The trip took four hours. We actually felt like we should bring pillows next time. The trip to Gulugod Baboy was easier on our behind because we didn't ride the same vehicle for the whole trip. We hired a jeep to take us to Mt Daguldol. During the trip we took turns sleeping and waiting for the 1% of the road that wouldn't be cemented (it was mentioned on the IT) to signal that we were close.

It was harder for neal and me because we actually arrived at the meeting place on time : 5:30am and we left for Batangas around 8am. So I think one of our resolutions this time would be too arrive a bit late next time.

When we finally got to the uncemented part of the road we discovered that it was lined with beach resorts. We got to the end of the road and registered at a kiosk and got guides for the trip.

Instead of the old plan to walk along the beach to the mountain, we decided to take a ride on a boat. The advantages of being in a big group is that you don't have to shell out that much money for extra expenses. The beach was beautiful and clean. I would want to go back there if the trip didn't take so long. We got to our jump off point in 20 minutes and started our climb around 1pm.

Our guide was way too fast for the group. He didn't even sweat the entire way up, didn't breathe heavy and even smoked as we around halway up. He also wasn't carrying a bag unlike the other guides in our previous climb.
We were instructed to be polite at all times and since I noticed that the whoever was in the lead talked to the guide, when I found myself behind him, I tried talking to him.
I think our conversation went like this :
Me : Do a lot of people climb this mountain?
Him : Last week,.. (insert unintelligible stuff here )
(I nod and pretend to understand after a while, I grab the topic i heard them talk about a while ago.)
Me : Is it really easy to get up here using horses?
Him : (i think he starts talking to me about horses here. I can't be sure.)
(Afetr a while I go for th Bart and Lisa question)
Me : Are we there yet? How far is it?
Him : (something about a coconut which he points out to me, which I don't see and we proceed to hurry towards that point )

I think the moment I had the chance, I stopped being the lead.

Neal found this long stick that he was able to use as a walking stick. It's long. It can be sculpted to be Gandalf's stick and he loved it. I found a smaller one too and used it as well. It is helpful. We all got the idea from Ken, who injured his knee at Mt Halcon and bought a stick for climbing.

That's where our new motto came from : "every climb brings new items". After every climb, we learn a lot about what we need to bring and what we can't bring. We also upgrade our items. I think there were at least 3 new bags, a new cookset and plenty of sleeping mats. Next climb will probably be walking sticks just like Ken's. I'm planning to buy a new bag myself. Though that would be hard to explain to my parents since I told them this climbing thing was temporary ^_^. Yeah right.

We encountered three houses that sold drinks on the way up. One of them sold ice cold mountain dew which helped refreshed us. The next house sold halo-halo. We had a nice time at that place because the view was great, we were actually at the side of the mountain and not somewhere in the middle so we rested a bit as the wind blew.

We still had a long way to go after that though. There were several times when we thought we were going to reach the summit but didn't. Finally after 3.5 hours, we reached our camp site.

The campsite was huge because it was not at the summit. We were in a meadow surrounded by trees and we had to walk a bit to get a good view.

However we did have constant water supply for our needs and that more than made up for it. It's nice to know you can just wash up whenever you want to or that you don't have to shell out your drinking water for cooking.
We started cooking. This time, as promised neal and I helped in watching over the rice. We were part of the Accenture group during that time and we cooked two batches of rice and pooled all of our corned beef. We all brought different types of corned beef and decided to mix everything.

After we ate, the halo-halo corned beef turned out to be tastier than we expected, we all sat down for socials. This time, the socials were a lot more fun than the previous one. More people joined the socials since the campsite was nice. People brought gin and we had gin joss (gin with extra joss) just like the last time.

We talked about horror stories, green jokes, personal stuff. The ones who poured out the drinks kept the conversation going. Some people were in the hot seat and the new climbers were interrogated ^_^.

After a few hours and people started to fall asleep, the few of us left had a laugh trip. One of our fellow climbers told us that there were different levels to drunkeness: happiness, sadness, anger, coma. We were all laughing at anything anyone said during that time so we all agreed that we were at the first level. Except leo, hehehe leo kept swearing, every sentence had 2 to 3 swear words and we kept teasing him that he was jumping levels. Of course later that night, the one who told us about the different levels admitted it was BS and we all laughed again.

Neal and I retired to our tent since we didn't want to get so drunk we'd end up sleeping outside.

The others were still drinking when i fell asleep.

I woke up around 2 am because of loud noises and thought that my fellow climbers were still drinking. I looked out and saw that several more tents have been put up by another set of climbers.

After 3 hours, another group arrived and woke us up again because they were talking loudly so I decided to stop trying to sleep and prepare for breakfast.

After breakfast, some of us decided to go to the summit with the best view. Neal and the others were left behind and I went with the others to the 30 minute trek to the summit.

It was a hard trail and it seemed like people rarely went to that summit. The forest was thick and we were constantly climbing steep slopes. I was glad I had long sleeves or my arms would have been scratched a lot.

Leo did say we complained all the time but forgot all about it when we got to the top and the extra climb was worth it.

The peak was rocky though that made climbing it easier. The view was spectacular. It was a cliff surrounded by smaller mountains We were at the highest point. We could see the entire mountain side and catch a glimpse of the other mountains.

Then the fog came in and we all sat down and waited for it to pass us.

The place was so serene and we took a lot of pictures so we would remember the place and so that we could brag about it to the people left in the camp hehe ^_^'.

After we came back and told everyone what we saw, we all packed up our gear and prepared to go down, but not before we took more pictures of the group.

Neal picked up a stone on the beach before we climbed the mountain and he left it hidden in a trunk of one of the coconut trees as a remembrance. Though I think that stone is going to be too high for us to reach when we go back.

We went down with neal in the lead. Both neal and I decided to be at the front because of several advantages: 1. You get to set the pace. 2. If you arrive way ahead of the others, you can get rest as you wait for them to catch up and more rest when they all decide to take a break. 3. You can keep up your momentum and not wait for the person in front of you.

The sweeper has the hardest job because he waits for everyone else. Usually, Ken or another experienced climber acts as a sweeper.

On the way down, we were lucky to chance upon the third house I previously mentioned. The owners of the house sold buko. We all had one or two fresh bukos and we even put some in our containers. The buko juice was cool and the meat tasty. Since we were still full, we didn't stop at the halo-halo place anymore and made our way to the mountain dew place. Unfortunately they were all out of drinks.

After 2.5 hours of climbing down, we finally got back to the beach. Some people had a victory halo-halo from one of the stands and I went back to buy cold mountain dew from the store. I bought 2 and drank it all.

Then we sat at the beach and rested while some of the boys went for a swim.

The beaches there are very clean and cool. I just walked along the beach and got my feet wet.

We took another boat ride to the beach resort where our jeep was parked and after an hour or so, went home.

The trip home was even longer. We got caught in traffic so I arrived home around 11pm. Too tired to go to work the next day.

Things we learned :
1. DON'T arrive early or exactly on time.
2. ALWAYS bring plenty of water. bring more than what the itinerary says because getting drunk makes you thirsty.
3. Buy anything that you can use to make water potable.
4. Wet Ones/Baby Wipes can be used in a LOT of ways.
5. Don't wear long sleeves going down. Don't wear your nice clothes going down or they'll get ruined.
6. NEVER think that you can handle the cold.
7. Buy a new bag.
8. Buy a sleeping mat.
9. Bring plenty of change or small amounts of money because stores on the mountain don't have change.

what's in a secret?

2005-05-25T18:17:00.000+08:00

I wish I could send a secret to this site. It's called Post Secret. The blog is dedicated to posting one postcard containing a secret every week.

People have been sending the most amazing postcards (and secrets) to this blog. Some secrets are shocking, some funny, some just really sad.

It's shows what we call humanity.

2005-05-25T17:06:00.000+08:00

another office pic: bright mornings

workplace pic

2005-05-25T17:05:00.000+08:00

workplace
Originally uploaded by damnedprobee.

i told neal about this picture i took when i arrived in the office. ( i arrive around 630-700 am so i'm usually the earliest.) neal asked me if i could do this so i played around with photoshop. it's not perfect but it looks nice.

they do chickens wrong

2005-05-17T07:17:00.000+08:00

I wasn't planning on posting anything today but I saw something shocking in Santolan:

KFC Cruelty

I've heard rumors that KFC wasn't even using real chicken anymore so they had to change their name from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC. In a previous post I posted a link to snopes who reported that they changed the name because of the word Kentucky and not chicken.

Apparently, they're not exactly doing anything better than that. Advocates of animal rights, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have launched a campaign against KFC. They have even set up a website where celebrities are helping spread the word. They want people to boycott KFC until KFC improves the conditions of the chickens. They have even managed to spread the word here. Though I only saw one billboard while I drove from Quezon City to Alabang, I'm pretty sure it won't be long before they multiply.

According to the website:

Chickens are probably the most abused animals on the planet. KFC’s breeding birds and all egg-laying hens have their sensitive beaks seared off with hot blades and are crammed into tiny cages with the decomposing remains of other birds. They are bred and drugged to grow so obese, so quickly that their legs can become crippled under their own weight. Hundreds of thousands are left to starve to death, and huge numbers die as a result of long journeys in extreme weather conditions. Basically, any and all abuse is allowable when it comes to chickens, who are, in fact, remarkable animals with distinct personalities and intelligence that, if allowed to develop, is as advanced as that of cats and dogs. Most importantly, they feel pain, just as we do.

Remember The Meatrix? "The lie we tell ourselves about where our food comes from." The flash animation I saw about industrial farming and how it is affecting our environment. Most people probably treat that as a joke because it is a parody of the Matrix but it is also true and should be taken seriously.

I'm not sure if the Philippines have jumped in the Industrial farming bandwagon. I still see a lot of small farms, chickens running around and cows still free to munch on grass during our climbing trips. However, I'm not sure if KFC Philippines imports their chicken meat. I heard from a reliable source that Jollibee imports its meat even if it is a Philippine company so KFC may be doing the same. It's possible but I wouldn't be screaming "Boycott KFC" just yet.

PETA also invites people to become vegetarians. I've eaten in vegetarian restaurants like the one in UP (forgot the name), Bodhi (vegetarian fastfood) and Greens (Tomas Morato Area). I can eat there once in a while but not everyday and last weekend I brought my whole family to eat at Greens and I have to say we didn't have fun being vegetarians for a night. I don't think we can last a lifetime.

2005-05-10T08:31:00.000+08:00

i brightened up the image a bit so that the curls will be more noticeable. I wanted a picture of my hair since I rarely get to style it. The earrings were bought by my sister. They're really long and pretty ^_^.

2005-05-10T08:29:00.000+08:00

the church up close. i wasn't able to get a good pic of the altar though.

2005-05-10T08:28:00.000+08:00

lighthouse over the couple's table

what if?

2005-05-09T13:29:00.000+08:00

what if you know when someone is going to die?
you don't know who.
you don't know how.
you don't even know when.
but something happens. you feel something.
then you forget about it.
then a few days later(the longest was a week)
you hear that someone you know just died.
the closer you are to them, the more horrible the fear attack is, the more accurate your feeling becomes.
some days you think its just BS.
maybe it is. though the accuracy, the number of times it has happened, the way it happens without fail, they nag at the back of your mind.
the freakish thing is that the people who die all die unexpectedly.
an accident, a sudden illness.
no warning.
it's not expected.
what if the fear attacks get so bad you can't sleep unless there's a light in your room.
you think, what if it isn't BS and you can tell when people will die?
can you develop it to the point that you'll know who will die, how they will die and when?
would you want to?
and exactly how far can your senses reach?
who's in your network?
relatives? old friends? old teachers?
what if it doesn't work on your family?
what if you don't want it?
what if you'd rather have a normal night where you can sleep instead of finding yourself gripped in a fear so strong and you don't know what's causing it or how to stop it and all you can do is pray it stops.
your flashlights are running out of batteries and you desperately need a night lamp.
you start to hate the feeling of being alone in your room with -- dare i say-- spirits telling you something you can't understand and you just want them to stop.
you realize you felt the same way when you were a child only you found a way to make it stop but now you don't remember how.
finally, if you do realize that you have this gift.
if you would call this a gift,
imagine how bad the wait would be when it happens again and you don't know who will die.
only that someone will die.
and you wonder if it's your turn
will you get any sign?

fan films and my old best friend and how some accidents don't give you second chances.

2005-05-09T09:30:00.000+08:00

i was sick friday.
not the i'm-just-mildly-sick-i-can-still-go-to-work-but-didn't-want-to type of sick but the i-cant-even-stand-to get-my-own-medicine type of sick.
it was horrible and i had a very busy weekend planned so i had to get well last friday or suffer going through saturday sick.
i did the latter by the way. my throat felt like it was scraped with a knife.
i also attended che's (neal's sister) wedding last sunday. I was a bridesmaid who took care of the candles. I loved that. more details on that and pics later.
-------
for those of you who love star wars. aids, paul and a rej's oneal are part of a new fan film called Twilight Jedi. Details are in the website.
Another website I just discovered is suzanne's. She and I exchanged blogs through friendster messages.
-----------
People change. Well, some people change and you can't handle them anymore but there are special people in your life who change but you're still friends.
Suzanne is just like that. We barely saw each other during our high school and college years but we still get along well. I always want to find time to spend with my friends but I'm also a procrastinator like Dawn so I don't usually find the time.
I've started reading her website/blog and i just realized why we were inseperable back in elementary. People who really know us will understand why she was my best friend back then, and why we're still close now.
-----------------------
i'm sorry for jumping from one topic to the next. i hate it too but I have a lot to do.
-------------------------------
One of my college professors, Doc A, has just died. Details about it are still vague and still in the rumor-level.
He's well known to all ECE students in UP as a terror who has high standards that you can count the number of people who has gotten a 1 in his class with your hands even if he has been teaching for several years now. He's the only professor who (unofficially i think but he always gets it every semester) has his own room in the College of Enginering.
He's a great teacher who either overestimates the abilities of his students or expects them to strive harder. He has a different approach to the subject and he uses his published papers as reference. He wants the students to learn and if you don't understand what he's talking about that's a sign you have forgotten what you should, in theory, already know.
I knew his daughter back in highschool and I was really happy to learn that he still knew me when I took his class in college.
I wanted to be his student again for my any of my masters subjects.
I just really wanted to show him that I could put my heart into studying for his subject unlike what I did before.
Now it's too late.
His wake is now held in the UP chapel. The funeral, if the news I heard is accurate, will be this wednesday. For people who know him, there can be no mistake because there is just one Doc A, please visit.
We've just lost a true legend.

Digital Camera fun

2005-05-04T07:29:00.000+08:00

my sister came home with my new digital camera. I'm paying for it slowly hehe so it really is mine.

It's a Sony DSC-W5. Not as nice as my dream Canon EOS camera but it is lightweight and really good. It can be a point and shoot camera for people who don't want to bother with details but it has enough features for me to satisfy my craving for photography. It's also small enough to bring up a mountain and when I buy the waterproof casing, it's great for underwater photography.

I took a picture in my room with the lights closed. The room was so dark I couldn't see anything in the viewscreen but when the pic turned out brightly lit.
I can't wait to try it during the socials or underwater.

The W5 can be equipped with several accessories that are very handy and expensive (most are around 100-200 US dollars) so I'll probably be buying them one at a time ^_^.
Some of the available items are external flash, telephoto lens, polarizing filters, and my personal favorite: underwater casing. The good thing is Sony prices here are almost similar to the US dollar equivalents unlike the Canon cameras and accessories.

watching CSI while playing with my new camera

I've been taking huge pictures ^_^ the camera is currently set at 5MP all the time. Most of my pictures are of my dog of course. Tammy seems to find it strange that we started dressing her up for pics. She always seems to find the right moment to move so the shot will be ruined. I did get some nice pics of her though.

I'll play around with it some more until I get the hang of it. Been taking pics of anything as long as I have the time. I will bring it to neal's sister's wedding. The location and occassion couldn't be more perfect for me to try out its abilities: people are dressed up and the place where they are holding the reception is wonderful.

I'm also a bridesmaid so neal might take most of the church pics. I haven't been a bridesmaid since I had to wear a bright red Maria Clara outfit for my cousin's wedding and my closest friends are making sure I get married before them ( I don't want to get married before them too ) so I'm looking forward to this Sunday.

plug!

2005-04-28T14:07:00.000+08:00

WATCH!

Filipino independent movies rarely make it to the big screen but when they do, they don't disappoint.

Sa Aking Pagkakagising Mula sa Kamulatan (My Awakening from Consciousness) is an independent film directed by Ato M. Bautista. It is a film unafraid to show violence, rage and sex.

Violence in movies especially foreign movies like Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and even American History X affects me though there is a certain amount of detachment. This film gets too close to the truth because of the familiar settings.

Im hoping that it gets noticed by International Film Festivals to show the world that Filipinos can still make quality films that can rival their own.

The characters are well written, the editing superb (hehe yehey Carding!) and the flow of the movie suits it well. I found myself hating and loving the characters while watching the movie.

The film is showing at Glorietta 1 from May 5-11, I wasn't really paying attention yet so I might have the dates wrong. Watch it and tell your friends to watch it. It has an R18 rating so don't bring your younger siblings and grandparents.

2005-04-22T11:20:00.000+08:00

I promised myself I wouldn't post today. I hate promises.
I was supposed to either read another book in the Ender series by Orson Scott Card or at least write something other than a blog post.

We wanted to watch a movie so I checked the Alabang Town Center movie list. I work in Alabang, my car forbidden to go on the road earlier than 7pm, I don't like the traffic and ATC is the closest mall with a decent cinema. I'm just trying to prove I'm not a snotty rich girl -- hehe.

Although rich would be a nice change...

List of movies for this week are :
1. guess who (comedy)
2. the interpreter (suspense/action)
3. the wedding date (romantic comedy)
4. ring of the nibelungs (fantasy)
5. the jacket (suspense/horror)

I gave the list to neal with brief descriptions, list of main actors/actresses (except for ring of the nibelungs) and asked him to choose.

Of course he chose the chick flick. -- wedding date.
I would rather watch the jacket or guess who. my third choice would have been interpreter.

Why am I not a chick flick fan? *sigh* oh well.

By the way my friends and I are attending a premier next week for an independent film one of my friends, carding, co-produced. I'm not exactly sure how much of it is sponsored by ABS CBN but the actors are known and the movie should be great! Yehey filipino indie films.

Blogspot has a nice autosave feature now ^_^ which is why you're seeing this blog post instead of a rant on how I lost this blog post.

2005-04-21T15:38:00.000+08:00

I just had fun with the paintbrush. I'm using Adobe Photoshop for my pics unfortunately don't know what to color the leaves with and how to do it. I think Sakura blossoms would yield a nice result as well.

a few good things and a few bad things.

2005-04-21T12:07:00.000+08:00

I wasn't really sure what to post. I've been blog hopping and reading and doing 5 things at once because I have nothing else to do.

Yup, once again, our project is done. So unless some major bug is found I'm free to do anything as long as I'm not downloading stuff using bittorrent.

Speaking of which, these days, bittorrent is the cause for 35% of the internet traffic. It has even surpassed Kazaa and other P2P file swapping protocols in terms of traffic and number of users.It was also the cause of some major traffic here in our office which made our boss mad. Good thing I haven't used bittorrent in ages.

Doing 5 things at once is hard on my emotions. If I could just look at all of them without feeling, it'll be easier but I'll find it harder to write about it.
Currently I'm : 1. reading Megatokyo
2. Reviewing CSS and HTML
3. Finding the right color combination and making new pics for my blog layout
4. Testing the web part of our project
5. Writing my blog post and blog hopping.

I checked dawnie's blog and she found this amazing tour guide who gives tours around manila. His blog is also a delight to read.
Dawn and I love travelling. I never pass a chance to go anywhere no matter how bad I may be feeling.Even if I have to go with total strangers I wouldn't mind as long as I get to travel. Lately, climbing mountains has brought me to different parts of Batangas.
I would love to be able to go to Visayas or Mindanao though. I've only travelled in Luzon.Trips to different parts of the country has been my main agenda for this summer. I'm just waiting for my sister to come back from the States so we can go to Palawan or Sagada or Singapore or Malaysia (courtesy of the super cheap flights some airlines are offering).

I went over to Tin's and Jo's blog and I all I could do was sigh at the pre nuptial pictures they put up that Pilar Tuason took. If I had any occasion lined up (and money) I'd ask her to take pictures of me too. (^-^)!

A Friendster bulletin gave me a link to a petition page against Japan. Last week, I accidentally saw news of China's protests against Japan on TV. Accidentally because I really don't watch the news, I prefer to read them and watch something else.Apparently China started protesting over the newly approved Japanese schoolbooks that "gloss" over Japanese cruelty during the war.

I think it was really sad and kind of scary when the Japanese commented that :

They admit that deaths and rapes did occur, but say they were on a much
smaller scale than reported. And in any case, they argue, these things happen in
times of war.

I haven't signed the petition yet. I'm confused because I like Japan. I want to go there, I like the culture, I like their history though only up to the Meiji Era. Japan is at fault too. Brutality during a war is real but it is not necessary. Though I'd also like to point out that Japan is NOT the only country who would rather forget their actions during the past World Wars.

I'm just glad we are not at war.
Well, not World Wars anyway.
Wars are great when they're shown in the movie screen, when huge armies fight against each other and we're all amazed by the armour and weapons while we're sitting on our couch. People die bloody deaths but we know that it's not real.

Real wars scare me.

For me no amount of money or power or belief is worth killing millions of people and destroying billions of lives.

Since I want to end things lightly I'd like to ask for help. hehe. I'm not that good with color combinations. I really want a green and dark violet theme for my web pages because I was inspired by the Dragons presentation at Animal Planet. Unfortunately the last time I actually did a layout for a web page was when I was in highschool and wow, that was almost a decade ago.

Arrgh! Back to work, or non-work.

almost 50

2005-04-21T10:14:00.000+08:00

for my dad.

who used to watch japanese tv episodes of the Blind Samurai with me every night and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai when I was a kid.
-- and now wonders why I love japanese anime and samurai movies so much. We still like Toshiro Mifune.

who used to buy me chocolate milk at 3 am in the morning because I couldn't sleep and talk to me till 4 am.
-- and doesn't understand I'm an insomiac.

who forced me (kicking and screaming) to my first ferris wheel ride. i cried until we reached the top where he just asked me, "do you still feel like crying?" and i realized i was already enjoying myself.
-- now he thinks i'm crazy that i like climbing mountains and going skin diving.

who taught me that if it's your fault, you should never cry.

he survived cancer, a major car accident and a dozen other problems.

believes that i'm just like him AND much much more...

happy birthday.

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur

2005-04-20T16:12:00.000+08:00

Latin is a wonderful language that is sometimes just used to sound intelligent. It is a dead language after all. Here's a website I found amusing.

I also liked these simple transalations:

Nescio quid dicas
--I don't know what you're talking about

Ita erat quando hic adveni.
--It was that way when I got here

Cogito ergo sum
-- I think, therefore I am

followed by

Cogito ergo doleo
--I think, therefore I am depressed

Vah! Denuone latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.
--Oh! Was I speaking Latin again? Silly me. Sometimes it just sort of slips out.

Braccae tuae aperiuntur
--Your fly is open

Subucula tua apparet
--Your slip is showing

Sic hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades
--If you can read this bumper sticker, you are both very well educated, and much too close

hmm.. far from carpe diem aren't they?

I really want to change the look for my blog. I also want to change my tabulas blog because it allows me more freedom in the design.

This means working out a layout and a scheme for a few days, then figuring out how to do it, then thinking it's really hard to do, scrap that scheme and the cycle starts all over again.

I did try several background possibilities when I played around with my Adobe Photoshop. SO I hope I find one that suits me very soon.

soft recovery

2005-04-19T13:40:00.000+08:00

just got back from climbing mt. daguldol
had fun! will post pictures later. i'm still waiting for other people's pics coz i don't have my camera yet.

my sis informed me that she has bought one but would not tell me what she bought :) she's coming home this friday so i'm really excited.

i got the ebook of the last Star Wars movie that's coming out this year. I hope it's good. I'm really disappointed with the prequels but I hope he finds a way to redeem part of the Star Wars fame with the third movie.

Still no sign of Sin City here in the Philippines. I hate it. (T_T) I hate the delay. It's a great movie and I can't see it yet. I read the comics and I've seen clips of the movie. The movie is so faithful to the comic its impossible not to love it. A must see for all Frank Miller fans. It was also released in the states on my birthday. If I was with my sister I would have watched it. It probably is the best comic book adaptation ever.

I watched "The Village" again on DVD. I absolutely adored the love story. I like the lines. people might hate it because it wasn't scary but I liked it because he tried something else and it was well written. I think the people had something against the setting and the fact that the monster wasn't real.

Last weekend I watched Be Cool with my mom and neal. Had a great time. The Rock proved to be a really funny as the gay bodyguard/aspiring actor. Even my mom had fun. I think it's the first movie with John Travolta and Uma Thurman together after Pulp Fiction.

I'm counting the days till May 4 because that's when Kingdom of Heaven is showing. Since we change movies on a Wednesday here instead of Friday in the States, we get to watch it 2 days before them. hehe

Goodwill bookstore is really having a sale. I rummaged through the Megamall branch. I was a bit disappointed because I couldn't find a lot. I did buy 3 books though. Worth 800++ but I only paid 150.

The "Last Morpheus" painting by Micahel Zulli is now done and up for auction at eBay. Last time I checked, the price was at 3.8k. It's really good and very detailed. Reminds me of the artwork in "The Wake".

Finally, I wanted to post the link to "Space-time for Springers". A heart breaking sci fi cat story. I'm never looking at cats the same way again.

to eat or not to eat

2005-04-13T06:50:00.000+08:00

I attended a birthday party / christening last month. It was a normal children's party with mascots, lots of food, lots of kids and even a mamang sorbetero

The best part about it was the giveaways: they were small cup cakes with candy on top. There were bears, cars, ponies, ice cream cones, ducks... It's a great idea though I think the person who made it all was exhausted afterwards.

the cake and giveaways

I already ate mine. It was really tasty but I was kind of sad that I had to eat it. I took pictures though :)
---------------------------------------------
Dawn sent me a link to show me how to fold a shirt. I know how to fold a shirt but my way does not even come near their way.

By the way, I am trying to find smileys for my blogs. I'm kind of jealous when I see animated emoticons on other people's blogs. I'm looking for free ones and trying different stuff. So far, the cutest I've seen are Japanese Kao Maji. Which are adorable.

just look at the cat :

I'm trying to write new stuff but I still have a project to finish. Will try to put up a whole story in tabulas before the week ends. I wrote it during a meeting hehe.

Gulugod Baboy Experience

2005-04-05T13:10:00.000+08:00

finally got up a mountain... any mountain.
mountain climbing has been one of those sports i've always wanted to try but i never got a chance. mostly because my course always makes sure we are busy with exams and projects during the weekends when these climbing trips were scheduled... )4m\ 3c3! (i'm learning so bear with me)

So when leo asked me if I wanted to go ( i subtly let out hints that i was interested.) i jumped at the chance.

I even forced neal to come with me lol. He didn't want me to go but if I would force it, he would go with me anyway. Even if it is just to make sure I don't accidentally fall off the mountain.

So we bought shoes and equipment. We borrowed dawn's bag, cos' mountaineering bag and a carlo's sleeping bag. The rest of the stuff was bought. Water, I learned is really an essential on a mountain climb.

i was sick the day before the trip so i almost didn't make it. fortunately, i'm too stubborn for my own good and i still went anyway.

we decided to meet in alabang around 8am since it was just a short climb. a lot of people showed up for the trip. neal and i ate at jollibee while we waited for the others. leo was the first to arrive and we were next.

I've been to anilao several times. my aunt's company has a vacation house here and i've also gone skin diving here for my PE class ^_^ which was really fun. I knew it was kind of far.

after a long bus trip to batangas and two more jeepney rides to anilao, we finally got to the jump off point. Unfortunately, the jeep that took us there didn't want to go any further because there were so many of us. So we started walking up the road.

I've never walked up a road that steep! It reminded me of Baguio roads. If it wasn't for my adrenalin rush from the excitement of being on a mountian, I wouldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes. I forced myself to stay at the top of the pack because I didn't want to lag behind. Neal followed me closely but he was having a hard time since his bag was so heavy. He tried it in the house for five minutes and decided he can carry it.

I think the rule should be: if you think the bag weighs ok, lessen the load. It should feel light.

The only way I kept on was in deceiving myself into believing that after this bend, the road will be less steep. Hehe yeah right, that road barely had any level parts. The angle was so steep sometimes I felt like if I could kiss the road if I just bent a little more (or maybe i was just getting too tired).

It was also hard on the feet because it was a hard road. I was so glad we bought nice shoes for climbing. they helped a lot.

we took a lot of breaks. most of the time people were too tired to take pictures during these breaks. our trailmaster noted at the campsite that we had climbed too fast and took too many breaks. we should have taken it slow instead.

after the long hard road we finally got to the trail where we were surrounded by trees and plants. The way was still steep but I felt better because I now felt I was climbing a mountain. Plus, I got to use my gloves hehe, though they got dirty pretty fast.

It even rained a bit so we all took out our raincoats and after aroiund 5 minutes of wearing them, the rain stopped and left us all sweating under the raincoats.

one of my favorite pictures were during our break on the side of the mountain.

i love the way we just seem to blend with the surroundings

i think we reached the peak after 3 or 4 hours of climbing. around an hour before that we finally got to the part of the mountain where there were almost no trees and the slopes weren't so steep.

taking a break.. finally smooth slopes

there were lots of dogs, cows, a goat and even a horse up in that mountain. which also translated to lots of poo scattered everywhere. we had to tread carefully.

when we got to the site, there were already two more groups who have set up camp. We think one of the groups may be the UP Mountaineers. The highest campsite was already taken and the mountaineers occupied the next one so we were at a loss. Since we wanted a better campsite, we scouted around and found another summit. the way towards it was fenced though the man who was tending to the fields agreed that we could use that summit as our campsite.

The campsite was huge! we had a lot of place we could go to (something that we found very useful later on). We had almost a 360 degree view on our surroundings except for the highest summit.

We were contemplating who will roll down the mountain faster

Actually, we didn't help to prepare dinner which made me kind of embarrassed. I promise we will help next time.

neal and i inside our new green tent :)

We bought this tent on sale in storeshop. leo bought a similar one and set it up right next to ours. We also set up a makeshift clothesline using my violet mountaineering string(?!) which I've had since I was in highschool when my cousin and i thought it was cool to have mountaineering stuff even when we didn't climb mountains.
For dinner, we had sinigang na baboy and beef steak. We also had plenty of rice so we were really full. Oh yeah, we also found out we should be more careful in choosing the right canned food to bring.
After that came the socials which can be translated to "let's all get so drunk we can fall asleep anywhere". It's amazing how much booze people are willing to carry up the mountain no matter how heavy they are. (It's also amazing how much booze people will drink up on a mountain.) Our trailmaster told us that alcoholic drinks in glass containers, though heavier are better to bring than the ones in plastic containers because the alcohol seeps out and makes the drink less potent. ^_^ we wouldn't want that.
We had gin with extra Joss. Go figure.

socials

It also got really dark that evening so we saw a lot of stars. Leo used his tripod to take cool shots of the surroundings and of different constellations. The best time to see that stars was around 2am though.
It also made looking for a "bathroom" easier. During the day you had to pick a faraway spot where you hope no one can see you. Of course being up in the mountain didn't help. In the end, you hope your only witnesses are the cows and nature. hehe.
At night it was different, you didn't have to go that far. Just pick a spot, turn off your flashlight and no one will know what you are doing. Though there's nothing like doing your business in the dark, in a field full of dung, while the wind is blowing faster than a hundred kilometers an hour.
I like to drink but I don't drink until I lose consciousness. I also get very quiet when I'm tipsy. Leo's officemates, (possibly the whole group as well) thought I was a really heavy drinker. hehe I usually just go relieve myself and I get clear headed again so I can on drinking. I also noticed I kept going near the edge of the mountain during those trips which is not a very good habit. Especially since everyone will be too drunk to notice I'm gone and I usually go alone because neal can't accompany me.
Around 9pm some of us decided to go to bed. The rest of the group stayed up till 2am and only stopped because there was no more booze. We would have slept well since we were all basically drunk if it hadn't been for the wind. The wind was so strong we thought we would be swept away. No wonder the earlier groups didn't pick our spot. The freaky thing about it was that the wind will be blowing so hard that you'd think someone was outside pushing your tent and then, for no reason, stop. It was these sudden quiet moments that made you think of alien spaceships outside blocking the wind or some other unnatural phenomena.

early morning

We woke up early around 6am though some people were up earlier than that. The line for the hot water was long and it took a while to boil water up in the mountains. Besides that, the water will be hot for about 5 minutes and after that it will be cold again.
Our drinking water was the only source of water so we had to be careful in using it when we brushed our teeth or washed our faces. Hopefully the next mountain, which has a good water source, will make our lives easier.
When everyone finally woke up and had breakfast, we all packed or stuff and took last minute pictures.

all packed up and ready to go back to civilization... and toilets!

everyone is in the shot courtesy of leo's tripod

We had fun. Neal even wanted to climb a mountain again even after if he had a hard time lugging the big bag up the mountain. The group went down by another route, an easier route. We got lost, went back, realized we were on the right track and went back that way again... I think we walked longer going down than going up because of it. We were lucky to hitch a ride on a jeep that was going down our way. We found ourselves in a town far from Anilao so we couldn't go swimming though some of the Accenture people still swam for a bit at the beach. The rest either ate, rested or found a way to take a bath.

last jeep ride

During the trip home we were so tired we kept sleeping on the bus. The bus we rode on had a terminal in Cubao which was lucky for us because my house was near so we only had to take a taxi home. I hope next time the bus we ride on has a terminal nearer to our place so we coud just walk home.

Hehe I know this is really late but at least I decided to post this before our next trip which is this coming weekend to Daguldol, also in Batangas.
Stuff I learned
1. wear something that will make you look cute in pictures (yes leo, same as yours)
2. bring a smaller jacket (wind breaker is too big, makes me look huge and i can do better with long sleeves under a shirt. cuter too)
3. buy a smaller sleeping bag. (ahh... carlo's is too big. neal and i can fit inside it and zip it too) --done
4. buy less canned goods.
5. more water!
6. more face/hand towels!
7. even if we will swim, don't bring towels
8. get neal to take more pics
9. get in more pics
10. if it's heavy leave it. (a heavy bag you carried for 5 minutes will weigh 20x more while being carried up a mountain)
11. get a new flashlight, one that needs batteries not rechargeable and one that doesn't cost just 50 pesos hehe.

1 c4n7 sp34k l33t

2005-04-05T09:35:00.000+08:00

I think it started two weeks ago. Arf and I were chatting and suddenly she lets out a "w00t". which was fine because i thought it was a hoot until she started typing "ph34r" and stuff.I actually though her keyboard was missing a few vowels and she had to type with numbers. She told me it was l33t. l33t?! leet?
Apparently, though I have been using the internet for 10 years, since I have been staying clear of chat rooms and game rooms. I didn't encounter l33t.
Arf has been reading MegaTokyo (I've started too) It's a hilarious comic about two twenty something gamers stuck in Japan trying to earn money for a plane ticket home.One of the characters speaks l33t which is why she found out about it.
I nosed around the internet for resources and I found a lot. The Wikipedia entry is a great start as well as the BBC entry (the Guide to Life the Universe and Everything). I also found a Google search page that was in the l33t language. Finally, a HowTo page on l33t from linux reviews.
I was going to translate the entire post in l33t but people may suddenly get the urge to kill me so I didn't.

Now all I have to do is find out what language carding (aka Lord Jacob) is using when he says wakeke.

^_^

god is dead. meet the kids

2005-04-04T18:37:00.000+08:00

The title was taken from neil gaiman's journal.

His upcoming book is called Anansi Boys.
Anansi is a West African spider god. Some of his stories are online here. There are a lot of good links if you search for him in Google. He's a trickster god and Anansi Boys is a fun read. It's funny and I can't wait to read the whole book. Unfortunately it comes out in September.
I had hoped Gaiman will be able to sign it when (or if hehe) he comes in July but I will be contented if he signs my other books.
Neil Gaiman has posted a part of his new book at his site but if you really want to have fun and you have the bandwidth to spare, I suggest you watch him read parts of it instead.

All you need is real player :)

He's a great reader. I appreciated his story, Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, only after i listened to him read it.
---------------
We now have a tv again :) my old big screen tv was too old (around 13-15 years old i'm not sure) and it retired. So we bought a new one yesterday and it is so cool. Now I don't have to watch DVDs in neal's laptop.

I also got my Extended version of the Lord of the Rings, Return of the King DVD (finally). I also have the statue of Minas Tirith which is so beautiful I put it back in the box for safe keeping while my room is still a war zone.
--------------
I also spent the weekend celebrating my birthday.

Haha I declared it a 3-day weekend. Unofficial of course but fun nevertheless.

The first day was spent night swimming in 8 waves in Bulacan. Neal and I went with his siblings and most of their significant others. It was great since it was also the first time for me to go with them on an outing :) All of them live in Bulacan and I'm the only one too far away to go night swimming with them. Back at the house, neal's dad showed us a picture of neal when he was around two years old and he looked just like his brother George! I'll steal it someday and scan it hehe.

The next day, I met with my friends Dawn and Arf. We went to Greenhills and ate at Genji, the conveyor belt sushi place and we ate a LOT. We were celebrating Arf's and my birthday. I learned that Arians with credit cards and a love for Japanese food, should never be placed beside a conveyor belt filled with sushi, sashimi, nigiri ... :D Arf reacted the same way I did when I first ate in Genji: pick up lots of stuff from the revolving conveyor belt! We were so full we had to walk it off or fall asleep at the table.
We spent the rest of the day shopping. Arf and I bought some clothes. I got a skirt and my ultimate white polo :) It's so cute. I also got a girly girl (aka feminine) ensemble from Arf and Dawn as a present. I requested it from them and Arf pulled through and chose a beautiful pale yellow skirt and a sleeveless white cotton blouse. It's so pretty!
Ok, people who actually know me and know how I dress will be shocked to read that last part. Hehe, I usually dress in jeans and shirts. I own 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of leather shoes, 3 boots and the rest are all rubber shoes. I also have only 2 skirts and I'm 25 years old. But I'm not really feeling boyish and I want to change my wardrobe again. Last time I changed it was 4 years ago. I can wear anything as long as I'm comfortable in them so high heels are still not in the list of possible footwear. :p
Then we decided to have a bit of adventure and look for Metrowalk. I've heard that Metrowalk is now the new haven for *ahem* pirated DVDs so I asked for directions from Tin. The guards or sales people I asked in Greenhills looked at me as though Metrowalk was not to be found anywhere in the country and I was seriously lost.
Metrowalk was a jeep ride away from Greenhills and it was so hot when we got there that we decided to take a break at Starbucks. We chatted for a while and cooled off before we explored the new mall. Most of the places in Metrowalk are food places. Misato, Starbucks, Iceberg... just to name a few. There's even one called Phi (the nickname Dawn and Arf calls me, every barkada I had gave me a new nickname) a resto and bar at the second floor.
The clothes there were nice. Arf liked the selection there better than in Greenhills. Dawn and I loved the DVD slection. We found a store that sold Korean movies and Akira Kurusawa movies! Toshiro Mifune looked so young in Stray Dog. I wanted to buy it but I had already bought Shaolin Soccer and Stepford wives. By that time I had 31 pesos left to my name and not a single ATM machine on sight.
Most of the DVDs sell for 70 pesos. My copy of the Stepford Wives was good.
Dawn splurged on DVDs :)
We separated after that and I rode a bus home with Arf. We realized that we had been walking for almost 5 hours that day and my feet hurt because I was wearing boots instead of sneakers. It was a great day.

The last day was spent with my folks at Wasabi. Wasabi is a restaurant in Makati Avenue that serves Japanese food (of course). We came there for the Sunday buffet. The food was nice because they weren't common Japanese foods. My favorite was the Seafood Thermidor and the No. 1 special. I also kept coming back for the green tea salmon sashimi.
The best part of the buffet was the dessert table. Johann was right, it is funky. I had a mango crepe with Vanilla ice cream, Chocolate Marquis, frozen Tiramisu, Green cheesecake and mango creme brulee.

After that I convinced them to go to Metrowalk with me :) I got the Village DVD hehe I loved that movie. I watched it with neal and pauline last year and I was the one who told them when it was safe to look because I was the only one looking at the screen :p

Then we went to SM north to buy a table for the new stove but we ended up buying a TV.
-------------
I'm now 25. Hmm... Arf posted a question. Quarter of a century old and what do I have to show for it?

late late holy week blues

2005-04-04T18:31:00.000+08:00

holy week
i've always secretly hated holy week. as a child, most of my birthdays fell on one of the holy days. when it fell on an Easter Sunday, my birthday would be happy. I'd have a party and gifts. Most of the time though, it usually fell on a holy Thursday, black Saturday or when I'm really unlucky : good Friday.
I felt cheated. Sometimes it felt like the world was against me when I see my birthday printed with red ink on the calendar. Lately though, I've been having a lucky streak, the holy week is usually a week before or after my birthday which is ok.
on the radio, people were wondering if it was ok to celebrate your birthday even if it falls on a good Friday. Speaking from experience, I would rather not celebrate it on the exact date. First of all, it is a solemn event and it is very important for Catholics to realize that it takes precedence over birthdays. Besides who would want to celebrate your birthday when malls and restaurants are closed and you can't eat meat. Just do the celebrations on Easter Sunday and have an egg hunt.
I hate the holy week but I know it is important. I guess for the people who want to celebrate their birthday, just imagine what would it feel like if you just died and people celebrated? If its still ok with you, well, you certainly didn't die to save everyone anyway so anything goes.
my family used to go out to the province or the beach during the holy week. Blame my dad who dreads the catholic rituals and would rather run away. During the last few years though, we've spent it at home. Though we still go around driving in the car looking for "Jewish" restaurants and stores. They're "Jewish" or "Chinese" or "Muslim" to my dad who is kind of racist, but only for fun. Lately, more people have been spending the holy week here in metro Manila. Mainly because their are a lot of restaurants open and Cable TV doesn't take a holy week break. People now have things to do here during the Holy Week.
I managed to finish watching "Love Me If You Dare". I loved it. Those two lovers were crazy. Love should be full of passion. Though waiting for more than 10 years to finally get together is not a really great idea for me :p The only downside was the crappy subtitles. He of course it's pirated. They kept saying "Guarantee" instead of just "Promise" so the original is a good investment because the dialogue is good (well it sounds like its good).
I also finished reading Dogsbody. Wonderful book. I wouldn't put it down it unless I really had to. Diana Wynne Jones is now officially one of my favorite authors.
Last Friday was also the first Good Friday I ever spent with neal. I held his laptop hostage so that he would come visit me. He didn't go to the province because he had work.
We met and spent the afternoon reading parts of Dogsbody to each other. neal likes to use different voices so it's really fun to hear him read. I read to my sister but only if she wants to fall asleep. She believes the sound of my voice can put her right to sleep. It's true too. I barely read 2 pages of the Arabian Nights and she's be asleep. Ask anyone else and they'll tell you my voice is not calming enough to put anyone to sleep. Go figure.

birthday tree

2005-03-28T08:20:00.000+08:00

My birthday is coming up and neal put a list of trees and their meanings. to check out which tree is yours read his post.

Rowan Tree (Sensitivity) -- full of charm, cheerful, gifted without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest, and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.

i love my tree. i especially like the "loves life, motion, unrest and even complications" part :) it pretty much sums up the drama in my life.

hehe there's also something nice about that last line. i think it's the fact that it just jumps out at you.

announcing

2005-03-22T11:46:00.000+08:00

my new fiction blog site! Dragons Don't Land Here ( in Tabulas).

it's not much to look at but it's got several pieces of fiction. :) hopefully i can post more. so far i've done a lot for today. if i'm lucky i might even get to put up a longer story today.

tomorrow i plan to bring my old hard disk to get other stories as well.

Other nice blog sites I found were Flickr and Radio Blog Club. Check them out. :)

I would really appreciate comments on my pieces of fiction. Really need them too so fire away. There's a tagboard as well if you don't like posting comments and reactions mean someone's reading them.

Thanks

i finally took the dice quiz

2005-03-21T09:14:00.000+08:00

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

You are the large, round, friendly d20! (You probably didn't know this, but the shape of the twenty-sided die is called an Icosahedron.) You are the friendly, outgoing, outspoken, leader of friends. You are often looked up to, even though you don't normally deserve it. Most other types secretly wish they were you, and you'd give them tips on how, if only you had a clue yourself. Your charisma is often all you need, but you have your occasional moments of brilliance as well--just never when it's actually needed. You are the all-around good guy, a dependable chum, a respectable foe, and an inspiration to those who need one. Who says you can't get by on a smile and good looks alone?

-- note : i do know that the d20 is shaped like an icosahedron. that's what engineering board exams are for: to make sure you can brag to your gamer friends that you are now rolling an icosahedron...

catching up -- again.

2005-03-21T08:18:00.000+08:00

hmm... i always have a lot of posts that are way overdue.
i'm also thinking of making another blog where i can put all my stories in.

it's a habit of mine. whenever i get an idea, i have to put it in a new place so i'll start off fresh. i do it with notrebooks. i have lots of notebooks at home. not for school or anything, though i usually have one for work and a separate one for non work related projects, i always have a new notebook if i plan to write something new.

sometimes when i'm in a rut, i buy a notebook and hope blank pages will inspire me.

it just helps me focus.

i rarely buy notebooks that are very pretty. i have barely legible writing and when i get a sudden burst of inspiration for my stories my handwriting gets worse because my mind is too fast and my hands are just too awkward. so pretty notebooks end up staying clean and the ideas stay unwritten.

i'll create a link here when i make it.

i now have in my possession 3 more books written by Diana Wynne Jones.

Howl's Moving Castle
Castle In The Air
Dogsbody

I've already read Howl's Moving Castle as an ebook but since I really liked it, I asked my mom to find me the book. She also got me the sequel, Castle in the Air :)
I found Dogsbody when I went to Megamall. There were just two copies and they didn't even have the book in their database that time so I was lucky to find it. She's a great author and her books are a great addition to my already growing children's section :) (Yes, my books are categorized since I get books from every genre) My sister also bought all the Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket.

Haven't read them though because I'm still reading Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I love to read but when it's 11:00pm and you just drove for 1.5 hours to get home and you just took care of your dog AND you have to wake up at 5:00 am to go to work, well, you get the idea.

I'm hoping I can finish all these books, watch Tin's Studio Ghibli collection and play Sid Meier's Pirates, Playboy Mansion and Tantra this Holy Week.

hehe my week is full.

I went to Greenhills this weekend with my my gamer friends. I was happy to find all the pc games, pirated stuff and hobby stores have now gone to Shoppesville. We ata at AA's which serves yummy food at a low price then talked some more at the Bag of Beans. I'll post some pics when Neal uploads them.

I like my gamer friends but if I wasn't with Neal i don't think I would have been a gamer.

Tin printed out some postcards for Cuppkeyk. One of them was a drawing of all the Endless which I loved and Tin had the link to the artist, Becca Ming. I loved her Death and of course, the Endless. She's also got a short comic based on the Sandman comics called A King Among Ravens and several other comics.

I still have to post our Gulugod Baboy Experience but I still have a project to finish :)

My birthday is also coming up and I have no idea where to go or how to spend the day with neal. Saturday is going to be spent with Arf and Dawn; Sunday with my parents and neal (i think) in Wasabi (which Tin and Jo suggested).

wwwaaaaahhh

2005-03-18T12:30:00.000+08:00

i miss my sister.
she's in the States right now and she's suppose to be having fun but she's homesick :(
when we were kids we used to try to kill each other :) but when we grew older, all those petty rivalries, jealousies, they went away. Of course we still have little fights every now and then but nothing serious.
after years of training, she now has the ability to always have the perfect smile when her picture is taken.
i envy that. i hate most of my pictures especially the ones for school (1x1, 2x2 sized pictures)
she's in almost every picture in our family album -- i usually take the shots not be in it and now, in the digital age, her phone has dozens of pictures of her :D
she's also the only one tammy poses with properly. my pictures with tammy always end up ruined because she plays with me but when pauline's with her, tammy poses for the picture as well.
people love her even when she's bitchy. she always tells me she's pretty (and it's true).
she always wants me touch her soft hair, tell her how nice she looks... yes, she's a lot like neal...
(i really love making life hard for me don't i?)
but she will never chose someone else's side even when i'm wrong(unless we're the only ones involved in a fight) and neither will i.
she promised me a trenchcoat(yes, i know in this weather?) and lots of other stuff and i know whatever she picks will be great because she is after all, my fashion guru.
i hope she has fun there. she can't be homesick... she's still got 5 weeks to go.

the truth

2005-03-16T13:41:00.000+08:00

Isn't it amazing how we seem to accept information, any type of information that goes our way?

I have just recently found out about this site called snopes.com and I got hooked. I spent an entire afternoon looking through the site's collection of facts and rumors.

I already talked about my views on the integrity of the internet once. However, I just realized just how fast we accept the things we read about in the internet and in our emails and it deserved another post.

Just recently, an officemate of mine sent me an email containing pictures of new species of sea creatures found after the tsunami. The creatures were so different from your average fish and I became interested in finding more images that I started searching the internet.

Unfortuantely, all I could find were posts in forums with basically the same pictures and I thought it was strange that the scientific community wasn't writing articles about these creatures.

I should have known better.

Then one of the posts I read mentioned that the creatures were not found after the tsunami, according to snopes, they were photos from an underwater exhibition. There was even news of a mermaid found after the tsunami as well.

That's just one instance. What about all the news about why KFC is no longer called Kentucky Fried Chicken? Who among us didn't think it was because they weren't really using chicken anymore? Well, ok, the KFC chickens here are still small though. Who knew that it was just the word Kentucky and not chicken that made them change their name?

There is no email tracker. So all those messages about children being sick and if you just forward the email then someone rich will give them money is not true. Yes, it is sad because suddenly all the time we thought we "helped" people weren't true.

If you really want to help, yes for free, try clicking on any of these sites:

hunger site
breast cancer site
child health site
literacy site
rainforest site
animal rescue site

just one click everyday.

For all those people who keep sending messages that contain something like "If you do not send this message to everyone, your account will be deleted", it's not true. I kind of suspected this after I saw almost the same message in Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger and even Friendster. I read the proof here. Actually, a few weeks ago Libre, the free MRT newspaper had a weird advertisement at the back. Apparently SUN cellular was being spammed with messages that claimed that the 24/7 call and text feature was at an end unless people started informing other people with the text message. If there is no email tracker then there certartainly isn't a sms tracker.

Yes, even I fell for the Bill Gates email message. Who doesn't fall prey to the promise of money? Then again, we should think. People who know how Bill gates built his empire should realize that he will NEVER give out money. Seriously, that is one shrewd (but mean) businessman. (on a smaller note: Hurray for TUX and LINUX)

My mother used to believe Aspartame was dangerous (though she didn't stop using it because she had been using it for 10 years and in her words: The Damage is already done ) because of an email.

I found out chop suey isn't chinese, The Great Wall of China is not the only thing that can be seen from space and that apples have cyanide *evil grin*.

Ok the cyanide in apples is in the seeds and very harmless amounts but hey, one more way to get poison...

I knew that Fortune cookies is an american invention though. When we went to China around 3 years ago and we ate at Chinese restaurant, we got no fortune cookies, then when we went to the States we ate at 3 chinese restaurants, I got lots of fortune cookies.

I was confused then I found out in Unwrapped, that wonderful show that convinced my sister Mint and Chocolate chips go together, that fortune cookies are american.

I even saw this story about a guy who was tempted by his future mother-in-law as a test to his loyalty to their daughter. I read the same story on FHM Philippines. Yes I read FHM, neal has every issue for three years now. Though the FHM story was better written and the seductress was the future sister-in-law because the mother-in-law part is too unbelievable here.

It's so easy nowadays to spread lies. Just write an email, research the name of the president of the company to back your letter and press send. Sometimes they don't even check the grammar or the spelling.

I guess nowadays I'm more critical when reading my mail. I got one about a human eating filipina once, pics and all, not a pretty sight, but I can't find anything to back it up so I can't say it is true.

Look for the truth, find better sources, don't just believe.

fun fun fun!

2005-03-10T17:47:00.000+08:00

im sorry i know i promised essays and pieces of fiction but i haven't been able to write since i was working on my project.
which is finished way ahead of schedule hehehe, but i need to make sure it's perfect first before i celebrate.

anyway, was blog hopping and i saw this from tin's blog : room builder from knock first (the show that redecorates your bedroom for free--- wish we had them here!).

I made two rooms :) because I'm never satisfied with just one.

one possible room. i especially like the bed

and

another possible room

and a southpark studio where you can make your own southpark character. Don't panic if you can't read German :) The link is at the right side of the page : South Park Studio Flash.

i made a "normal" version

me as an southpark character

and a neurotic one:

another cute southpark character

make your own... have fun!

good beginnings

2005-03-08T08:08:00.000+08:00

I'm beginning to love mondays...
well, i should be more specific. Mondays when i don't have a ton of stuff to do and i have all the time to read blogs and web pages updated during the weekend.

Time to update mine.

Due to NPA sightings, we didn't go to Rizal and climb Mt Sembrano. Instead, we opted to go to Anilao, Batangas and climb Gulugod Baboy (Pig's Spine). At first we were kind of disappointed because Gulugod Baboy is only 470 m and Mt Sembrano was 700 m high. Now that the climb is finished I'm glad we started out with an "easy" mountain.

Gulugod Baboy

Cuppkeyk has a blog! I'm jealous because his blog is exactly what I wanted mine to be like: filled with short fiction stories. These days I'm more inclined to do essays. I have one coming up about emails and hoaxes and of course the Gulugod Baboy experience is coming up as well but I only have two pieces of fiction posted.
sigh.
read cuppkeyk's blog though because he is a good writer and his short fictions will keep you coming back.

So far I've managed to meet more than a dozen new people, listen to Neil Gaiman's The Tragical Comedy or the Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch on BBC and get permission to raid jo's room for Murakami books and DVDs.

I'm also around 3 days advanced in my work. *evil laugh*

Now that's a great way to start the week.

ps. (is this allowed? oh well) dawn's blog pointed me to this video which features two of the voice actors for the Simpsons. It's amazing. I never knew one person can have so many different voices.

you should also check out the rest of the anticlown site. They have lots of funny videos, optical illusions and games that are really cool!

look at the pretty mountain...

2005-03-02T09:43:00.000+08:00

finally...
yup due to my insistent demand and leo's encouragement (hopefully not a mistake), I am going to climb a mountain this weekend.
The mountain in question is called Mt Sembrano.

Mt Sembrano

It's a mountain found in Rizal-Laguna province. It's suppose to be an easy climb. Hopefully that applies to newbies as well. We are suppose to set up camp at the top so it's going to be fun.

Of course I can't wait to get up there. This is my first climb and I'm always psyched when I'm going to do something new.

So last week I'm chatting with leo and I told him I've always wanted to climb a mountain. Then he tells me they're going up to Mt Sembrano Mar 5-6 and I asked if I could join. The next day, his friends say yes and I ask my parents for permission.

Technically, I'm not asking. Apparently my parents have had almost 25 years of experience with my stubborness. They don't want me to go but they don't want to fight me (their words not mine) so they're letting me go.

Hmm... my dad said he agrees to any sport I get myself into but not mountain climbing. Well, I seem to recall he said the same thing about skin diving... I haven't even told them yet that I want to just go and train to go scuba diving with sharks.

Anyway, in a space of a week and with the help of a lot of friends and money I shouldn't be using for this... I actually got all the stuff I need.

tent, two bags, sleeping bag, armguards, gloves, raincoat, shoes, slippers, jogging pants...

Did I mention I was bringing neal?

Yup... first thing he said was "ano nanaman pumasok sa utak mo?". I think the closest transalation in English, not in the literal sense of course, is "Are you insane?" It ceratinly sounded like that to me.

I haven't trained physically in 3 years. Last time I exerted that much effort, I swam around 20 laps. So I spent the weekend "getting in shape." I jogged and walked in UP.

Neal hasn't done anything except buy equipment.

I think we're in for some heavy breathing and exhaustion all the way up. But I'll probably have more fun than him anyway.

Did I mention I was scared of heights?

Or that I detest the cold?

This is what I call fun.

superman is a dick

2005-02-28T09:13:00.000+08:00

I read about this really funny site from neil gaiman's journal. It's called Superman is a Dick. It's a collection of old Superman covers that show how awful and bad Superman can be. The comments are outrageous and they make sense :)
Hazel used to have this 50 years of Superman (or something like that...) a collection of Superman comics that featured the very first comics. It also had comics about his other girlfriends... not just Lana Lang and Lois Lane. I loved that comic book compilation though I don't remember most of it, It was fun.
Some of my favorites from the site include

superman IS an ALIEN!

People who have watched Rex Navarette's Maritess vs the Superfriends know the advantages of being a Caucasian alien.

this is too obvious

How many times have we told ourselves that Lois Lane was extremely stupid because she couldn't figure out Superman's secret identity?

Read on and have fun. :p

something fun

2005-02-28T09:01:00.000+08:00

You scored as Samantha Jones.Your Samantha Jones! Your a power driven woman, with sex never too far off mind. You tend to get a little distant with your friends sometimes, but you just have a different way of handling situations. You know who wears the pants in your reltaionships with men. Your the life of the party, and god dammit no one will tell you different!

Samantha Jones

67%

Charlotte York

47%

Miranda Hobbs

40%

Carrie Bradshaw

33%

Which of the 4 Sex & the City Gals are YOU?
created with QuizFarm.com

Animal Planet presents...

2005-02-24T13:43:00.000+08:00

DRAGONS

yup. They actually make a good case. Dragons exist. It may not be exactly the same as the dragon stories but there are several similarities.

It makes sense because why do we believe in dinosaurs and not dragons? Is it because they are just found in literature?

I watched the clips fom the animal planet site and I think they tried to recreate the dragons as accurately as possible. Kind of like what National Geographic did for the documentaries on the Dodo, the SaberTooth Tiger and the Mammoth.

There are also several sites like this one that try to prove dragons exist. Though I would not go as far as to disprove evolution using dragons, I would like to believe that evolution is one reason why dragons can exist in other forms these days and not just the huge fire breathing monsters in movies and stories. The Komodo Dragon is a dragon right? although officially it's a reptile :)

In my opinion, 70% of the world is covered in water and 97.3% of all that water is in oceans. These oceans have an average depth of 12,200 feet (3,720 m) and the deepest point is 36,198 feet (11,033 m) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific and 90% of the ocean is unexplored. What do we know about the creatures underneath us? Yes, I think if there are dragons now they would probably be marine dragons or what we usually call sea serpents.

What about the flying, fire breathing dragons?

Where did they go?

CANADA.

I'm kidding.

yup. i stand by my title.

Dragons don't land here.

but they might...

:)

hacking, climbing and a moving castle

2005-02-23T14:24:00.000+08:00

I spent around half my day trying to get through these sites:

http://academy.dyndns.org/
http://www.try2hack.nl/

Just try to hack through your way. I already got to level 15 of the first site and level 2 of the second site. It's fun. Use Internet Explorer to make your task easier.

Andrei has a blog! It's filled with climbing photos and other stuff. The shots give a spectacular view of Taal Lake and the side of Mt Maculot. Visit his blog and say hello :) I'm linking it to my blog as well.
I've asked if I can join their March 5 climb to Mt Sembrano :) If I'm lucky that'll be my first mountain climbing experience. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Due to unbelievable luck and the goodness of piracy (yes, that is correct) i was able to get a copy of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Howl's Moving Castle.
I first heard about this in (yes, you are probably correct) Neil Gaiman's site. As luck had it, a friend of mine got a copy of the book in word format (another version of piracy) and I was able to read it before I saw the movie.

I love the book. I suddenly adored Diana Wynne Jones and her books. Howl's Moving Castle is about a girl named Sophie. The eldest of three girls, she believed that she was destined for a normal life and continued her father's hat making business while her sisters are sent to different places to fulfill their destiny. What Sophie doesn't know is that she is a powerful witch and she was bound for adventure. The Witch of the Waste becomes jealous of her power and places a curse on her. Sophie, as an old woman, travels and by chance, encounters Howl's Moving Castle and Howl.

The book is romantic and had me spellbound by the different happenings and magical things. I especially love the door. The castle door is very special. You twist the knob and for every color, you can go to a different place when the door is opened.

Japanese poster of Howl's Moving Castle

The movie is clearly a Hayao Miyazaki film. It is loosely based on the book. In fact after 30 minutes it barely refers to the events in the book. Miyazaki creates a different plot line and inserts his own style of storytelling. The drawings are superb and the characters are still wonderful. I love Markl, the film version of Michael. Markl is years younger than the Michael in the book but Miyazaki makes him so adorable you'd forgive him for it.

It is now officially my favorite Miyazaki Movie. Even better that Spirited Away.

Howl's castle

The movie has been released in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and shown in a French film festival. They are so lucky. I don't even know if they'll show it here. It took Princess Mononoke around 2 years before making it to the US. I watched it in an anime film festival in Ora Cafe when I was in college, 6 months after it showed in Japan.

Howl and Sophie

Spirited Away is just available in pirated DVDs and this movie will probably be available the same way. Which is a loss because everyone here should be able to see these films too.

I found some really good pictures here and I also suggest looking at the korean web site for Howl's Moving Castle because I liked it better than the other official sites.

Oh and I just wanted to add, I finally found the Mint and Creme Oreo cookies and my sister and I bought a half gallon of Mint and Chips. Happy happy me. Mint Galore.

hector!

2005-02-23T09:34:00.000+08:00

good mondays

2005-02-21T10:56:00.000+08:00

its monday once again and all i did this weekend was watch movies :)
i had to do a little catching up.
of course i started the weekend right...UP Fair

Neal, Pauline and I went to the UP Fair. Well, Neal and I left the office at around 730 and picked up my sis around 8 so naturally we got to the UP Fair around 9 or 930. Good thing my sis came with us because she got us tickets in record breaking time. I was separated for them (had to find a bathroom) so I asked them to get the tickets. There was a line from the gate going up and around the sunken garden, (people familiar with UP lines know what I mean) and I was looking for them there when my sis calls me and tells me they're ready to enter. Details on how she managed it is still unknown :) but I was glad she did.The bands were great :) Friday night was the busiest night, they had 40 bands playing that night so when we got in, the popular bands were already playing. I didn't miss anyone though. We still got to watch Brownbeat All Stars, StoneFree, Milk and Money, SpongeCola, and Radioactive Sago Project.
I forgot that both of them had work tomorrow (I didn't) so we had to go home early. That and the fact that I was the only one familiar with the bands and the songs :) But they're great company, neal is just getting too old to go out to rock concerts :p
We missed Sandwhich though... ahh well, next year then.

I woke up late Saturday morning :) happy happy day. Only to find out that I would be alone in the house that day so I started watching all the DVDs we had lying around the house.

I watched The Incredibles (yes, I was too busy before) and it was a fun movie. Other than the fact that you figure out who the villain is within the first 15 minutes (I blame the Scooby Doo movie for making me paranoid to failed sidekicks), the movie is well made and extremely funny.

I also watched Closer. which was really good, suprisingly, i wasn't as disturbed as i thought i would be. I liked it because it was true to love because:

Love doesn't always have a happy ending.
and
If someone falls in love with you quickly and passionately, how sure are you that same person will not fall in love just as quickly wih someone else?

Natalie Portman was amazing as Alice/Jane especially when she was in a room stripping in front of Clive Owen and she kept saying "Thank you" whenever he gave her money, no matter how he gave it.

I finally finished Kung Fu Hustle. This film had me laughing out loud or staring with awe at the kung fu moves and graphics. I had no idea about the story even after watching the trailer so I was mildly surprised at the way they handled it. The landlady is one of my favorites :) I wanted to watch Shaolin Soccer too but I couldn't make the subtitles work using VLC.

Neal finally came at around 6pm and we went to the new Gateway mall in Cubao. Great mall, small but it had nice stores (Fully Booked is coming soon) and restaurants. We had to eat first because almost all of the seats were already taken for the 730p showing so we had to wait for the last full show.

The movie theater was big and seats were really comfortable. Neal discovered too late that we could raise the arm rests.

We watched Constantine.

Before Constantine started we saw a few trailers, the usual, Batman Begins, Mr and Mrs Smith, Hitch, the last prequel to Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith and Kingdom of Heaven!!!

kingdom of heaven 2005

My excitement is reserved only for Kingdom of Heaven. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars, the original trilogy that is not the prequel. Seriously, the last movie doesn't even give me much hope though I have to admit at least the movies are getting better.

I completely forgot about Orlando Bloom hehe silly me. I like the way he acts. I loved him as Paris. People hated him there coz he was a coward and all but if you read the book, that's what Paris was like, self centered, spoiled and a coward who depended on his brother to fight for him. I also loved Eric Bana as Hector and that is saying a lot because Hector is my favorite hero in that book. I actually cried (the book made me cry not the movie) when he died and hated Achilles forever. I'm even planning to get a huge male dog and name him Hector.

Kingdom of Heaven is a movie set at the time of the Crusades. Orlando Bloom plays a blacksmith who falls in love with a princess (yes their love is doomed) and becomes a knight for the Crusades. Yes, he does look dreamy with the mustache and beard hehe sorry couldn't resist. The trailer was great, the war scenes are epic and the cast is wonderful. One more movie to look forward to :)
The trailer can be found here.

Constantine was ok. I was surprised to find out a lot of people were watching it because John Constantine is not a famous comic here in the Philippines. I completely forgot that people will be watching it because of Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weiss (who was beautiful by the way). The effects were nice, the story seems a bit loose. Gabriel was a nice character.

unrequited

2005-02-16T10:48:00.000+08:00

i stole my idea of a perfect woman
from you.
i took the color of her eyes and made
mine the exact same shade. i changed my features
to match her pictures in your mind.
a lock of her hair for my own strands to copy.
and
when you weren't
looking
i took her breath.
why
won't
you let me

take her

place.

currently listening to:

2005-02-14T13:56:00.000+08:00

currently listening to:
I have to admit I'm really biased when it comes to this musical. The only musicals I know all the songs (or lines) are Les Miserables, Once on this Island and Phantom of the Opera.
When I was a kid, I used to listen to the Original Cast Phantom of the Opera production in two casettes. I never really understood Christine's predicament back then.

A lot of people didn't like the movie. Basically it had bad reviews. I just love the music. Yes, I agree that the Phantom looks like a young macho guy who just happened to have a disfigured face instead of the old, deformed monster in the book. I didn't like it too. The guy who played Raoul is meant to be weak and just pretty anyway. Even in the book, I didn't like him.

I'm going to defend Minnie Driver. Some people didn't like her coz she acted "as annoying as possible". ( quoted from here)

I liked the way she acted. Opera singers during that time were invaluable to the opera house. They got everything they wanted, they were loved by everyone and they were bitchy.
That's pretty much why they can be annoying but since they were really good they got away with it. Her role probably got more money than the lead male singer during those days.
So she did her part right.

im blind but at least i can still hear

2005-02-14T08:55:00.000+08:00

Three weeks ago, I got glasses.
Two days after that, I convinced myself that I didn't need them because my eyesight was fine. (did i mention i was stubborn?)
A week after that, I started wearing them again and now... I never realized how helpful they were till I forgot them...
Yup. I'm not completely blind. My glasses have a 25-50 grade and that's not so bad except I have astigmatism and the computer now seems brighter than usual and a bit hazy.
---------------------
oh yeah today is valentine's day...
usually i don't even notice, it doesn't feel different. nothing extraordinary happens and i happen to have a "date" who believes that valentine's day is so cliche.

though i didn't really feel jealous when a co worker of mine got flowers :) they were so pretty.. too pink for my taste. (i just want green carnations and snap dragons.) but it was so sweet because her bf already left (he's on a boat somewhere) and he still sent her flowers.

valentine's day used to be a day when i got my mom and grandmother flowers.

i just wish i could bring my grandmother flowers once more.
-------------------------
I finally got to see Phantom of the Opera this weekend. I was happy to find out that I still knew most of the songs .
Seriously.
A must see movie for those who love the musical.
Yes, the soundtrack and the movie are downloadable through bittorrent.

The Phantom has this one heart wrenching line :

"He was born to love you when he heard you sing"

The irony of being part of the reason why your love has found someone else...

I love the way the movie changes from the present to the past. The golden human arms torch lit hallway, and the way they did the Masquerade and the Notes song.

I especially love Minnie Driver as Carlotta. I don't think anyone else would have been able to carry it so well.
-------------------------
Lokitorrent has been shut down. But if you go back there, there's this threatening page that almost makes you think the government is watching you from your monitor.
"You can click but you can't hide..."
I wonder who makes their slogans :)

Bittorrent will never die. Even if all the american sites are shut down, they will still reopen somewhere somehow. If all else fails, their are a lot of foreign sites anyway...
you just got to learn the language.

finally, an actual piece of fiction

2005-02-10T09:07:00.000+08:00

It was ash wednesday yesterday and also the chinese new year. I don't know why but I just got an idea. Well, I already knew I wanted to write a story about the burns but I didn't know how I'd handle it or what really happens.

Last night, around 1130 pm (possibly later) I started writing and to my surprise, when I finished, I had completed the first draft. All before midnight. Well it is a short story.

The text I posted is the second draft. Nobody has read this yet or given any comments about it so it is definitely not final.

Any comment or reaction is appreciated. Even if it is bad. If it doesn't sit well or if even after reading it, it makes no sense.

Thanks

fiction : birthday

2005-02-10T07:52:00.000+08:00

1:00 pm

I was all alone again.

I sat down in the middle of the room and laid my arsenal around me in a circle.

I placed the gun at the north, the pills to the east, the knife to the south and the poison to the west.

I had to consider this very carefully.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Except for the gun, the other 3 did not have a 100% success rate. I personally did not want to wake up in the hospital feeling like a wreck.

Not like the last time...

2:00 pm

Still no decision but I lay plastic wrap all around me.

I didn't want to make a mess.

The memories came flooding back. It occurred to me that I may have been going to fast that night. So was the drunk driver who hit me, though he shouldn't even be on the road that night.
I didn't see him at all.

I just wanted to go home.

When I woke up, I felt nothing.

Sure my body hurt. I couldn't move at all without feeling pain. I had bandages covering my face, arms and most of my body but my skin didn't hurt.

I couldn't even feel my skin.

That's the problem with burns. You want them to hurt. The more it hurts the lesser the damage, the faster it gets better.

Third degree burns don't hurt because there's nothing left on your skin to feel the pain. No nerves, sometimes even no muscle.

I never knew how vain I was till that day. I never realized how I appreciated my looks, even though I wasn't a stunning beauty or anything. I always said I didn't wear makeup or style my hair because I didn't care about how I looked.

I was wrong.

I also knew we had no money.

No money for miracles. We only had money to save my life.

3:00 pm

All this thinking (and crying) made me hungry. I got up and microwaved some left over pizza I found in the refrigerator.

My last meal: leftover bacon and cheeseburger pizza. I was grumpy. I didn't even bother to get my favorite pizza for my last meal?

I pull out my notebook and start on the first draft of my suicide note.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm sorry and I love you.

I tear the page off and start a new one.

I tried using a tape recorder once.

I poured my heart out into it. I cried, I explained to them why I was leaving, why everything didn't matter anymore and why my cousins shouldn't get all my stuff. I probably would have sang if I found a minus one tape... Or a tape recorder that can handle the task.

I made the mistake of listening to it.

I destroyed the tape ( nobody must hear it again), threw it away and hid the tape recorder to prevent me from making another disaster of a suicide note.

The first draft of my suicide note came out fine. A 78 word autobiography.

My life and death in 78 words.

Hmmm.

I write it down again slowly on a clean sheet of paper. When you're dead you can't tell people that the word you wrote was message and not massage.

4:00 pm

Finished the letter. Still deciding on how to go.

I go through the items in my circle again, weighing each one on efficiency, swiftness, pain level, and messiness.

I lay down on my back and close my eyes to think better and fell asleep on the floor.

5:00 pm

The door opens and he comes in.

he wakes me up with a kiss.

A kiss that hasn't changed for 5 years, even after the accident.

I wake up and look at myself.

My hair was a mess and I tried to smoothen it out with my hand.

His eyes are the only mirrors I allowed in the house.

He smiles. "Time's up."

I nodded.

"Was it the note?"

I shook my head.

"I mean last year with the tape recorder..."

I hand him my handwritten letter.

"You fell asleep didn't you?" he read the lines. "I told you it was a hard decision."

"I wanted to jump but nobody dies from jumping from the ground floor."

"Find a building then." He hands me back my letter and opens up the bag he was holding.

"I have tequila and Pringles. Let's celebrate"

We started cleaning up: I folded the plastic wrap and he took the bullets off the gun.
I took the pills to the bathroom and returned the knife in the kitchen. He was hiding the poison inside the toolbox.

"You know, I think your poison has a best before date."

"I know, I haven't used it since college."

I sat down with the iodized salt and kalamansi slices. He gave me my first shot.

"Are you doing this again?"

"Maybe next year."

the true nature of love

2005-02-08T11:42:00.000+08:00

I was looking for a 50 word story I can post here when I saw this really old entry:

The sweetest thing neal ever told me was said last Monday, one of the worst days of the year, while we were "arguing" for my sake.(his words not mine)

He told me I was silly.

""Is this a joke?" That's what they said when you were born. "Is this a joke?" "

I just stared at him.

"Hello? April 1? What kind of birthday is that?"

He went up to me while I was ironing clothes (yup in the afternoon which is one of the reasons it was a bad day...) and hugged me.

Then he said: "The only reason you were born was because when I was two, I wished that someone will love me."

Now isn't that sweet? In a sick, selfish, I'm-the-only-one-that-matters way that only neal can carry well.
Seriously.
It was good.

tuesday : wallpapers

2005-02-08T07:43:00.000+08:00

my current wallpaper: from Jill Thompson's little endless storybook

Yup, I guess having adobe photoshop and knowing how to use it (wow, something useful learned from my project that doesn't involve programming) has its advantages. You can make you own wallpaper! Of course all the artwork was done by Jill Thompson, who draws the best Delirium pictures. She also drew the Little Endless which are adorable. I'll probably post more wallpapers if I still have the time to make them.

I've always wanted to have small ceramic figurines of the little endless made since I saw the pictures. If anyone knows where I can get them please tell me. The ones made by DC are pretty expensive.

Speaking of wallpapers, head off to Original Sins and you can download a Constantine Fan Art kit ( 18Mb ). The kit contains pics and logos that can be used to create your own Constantine movie wallpaper. The best ones are featured in the official movie site. This is actually a good way to get great wallpapers without actually hiring people. While you're there, A Perfect Circle song plays and makes the visit worthwhile.

It's also very useful for computer newbies (and the not so newbies) to check out these few simple rules to not kill a PC. It's an article from PC Stats entitled: Beginners Guides: Most Common Ways to Kill a PC. If the link fails, you can search the archives using the title.

I forgot to put the link for the sign I created yesterday. You can make your own sign here.

There's a nice black and white show called the muppet overtime original. It's a really good short film and you should go watch it. The shorter version can be found here though I suggest watching the original since it is only 5 minutes long.

Meanwhile, as I was looking for a decent trailer for the Hide and Seek movie, I saw Tim Burton's next film: The Corpse Bride. Stars include Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. I like the trailer. The original story as well as some related film news can be found here. The moral of the story: Don't put a wedding ring on a stick and don't do the wedding dance around it.

The Hide and Seek movie seems good. The internet web site is downright scary. It's full of surprises and it is fun to go through the different scenes. The sounds accompanying the tour reminded me of the reason why I never listened to the Resident Evil sound effects wile playing it. The site is definitely something I would not visit at night. It's already got me ready to jump out of my chair and its still bright and shiny.

I missed Kung Fu Hustle!!! I think I've lost track of all the other movies I wanted to watch. I should keep a list or something. People who watched the Sundance loved it. I had no idea they had dance numbers aarrrggghhh.

The Kung Fu Hustle web site is filled with audio clips, wallpapers, avatars and games :) You have a choice between Kung Fu Fighter, Pigsty Panic, Axe Gang Rampage and Ice Cream Mania. Haven't tried any of the games yet but the preview seems fun.

2005-02-07T12:46:00.000+08:00

coming to an exhibit near you

catching up on monday = very long post

2005-02-07T08:56:00.000+08:00

i got bitten by the writing bug last week. I actually just opened a Word document and started to type words that were floating in my head. Well not exactly floating.. more like my mind's blank then BAM stuff come out.

I also finally figured out the plot to my ornithanthropus ( winged humans) story and it also came to me this weekend but i chose sleeping over writing (yes that was bad :( and i'm sorry for it) and i got a really nasty dream because of it.

dawn sent me a nice link on how to write successfully written by no other than stephen king.

i've been meaning to post this link i found in tin's blog, On Meeting My 100 Percent Woman One Fine April Morning. It's a nice short story for Valentine's Day.
I think i love her classes too. There are times i wished i had taken some literary course instead of my engineering course... usually when i'm stressed out from work or when in college, i'll be reading some techincal book and my friends get to read wonderful books and short stories for class!

i took the weirdness quiz

the results:

Of all the weird test takers:
61% are more weird,11% are just as weird,
and 27% are more normal than you!

only 27%?!!! i must be doing something wrong. i'm turning normal! i know a lot of people out there won't agree to that so hmmm. lets take that test again...

ok nevermind. i got the same result.

and yet another mindless quiz :

i've also started wearing my glasses. really wearing them and not wearing them for a few minutes, taking them off and thinking "i can see better without them". mostly because my head hurt when i didn't wear them and they really do work. my eyes don't seem strained in front of the computer and yes, it is easier to read.

i also got a yellow stress ball from my office mate. im looking forward to hours of fun playing with tammy and pretending to throw the ball around.
while we're at it, i forgive my friend for the lateness of my lotr because of this :

neil gaiman at sundance... and yes that's borroms getting his autograph

yes i really wish i could meet him too.
sorry neal, i know you're kinda getting jealous over all the attention on the other neil.

I got this from dawn's blog.
Have you ever
(x) snuck out of the house
(x) gotten lost in your city
(x) seen a shooting star
(x) been to any other countries
( ) had a serious surgery
(x) gone out in public in your pajamas
() kissed a stranger
(x) hugged a stranger
(x) been in a fist fight
( ) been arrested
(x) done drugs
(x) Had alcohol
(x) laughed and had milk/coke come out of your nose
(x) pushed all the buttons on an elevator
( ) swore at your parents
(x) been in love
(x) been close to love
(x) been to a casino
( ) been skydiving
( ) broken a bone
(x) been high
( ) skinny-dipped
(x) skipped school
( ) flashed someone
( ) saw a therapist
(x) played spin the bottle
(x) gotten stitches
(x) drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour-- or water
(x) bitten someone
(x) been to Disneyland
(x) gotten the chicken pox
(x) kissed a member of the opposite sex
(x) kissed a member of the same sex
( ) crashed into a friend's car
( ) been to Japan
(x) ridden in a taxi
( ) been dumped
( ) shoplifted
( ) been fired
(x) had a crush on someone of the same sex
(x) had feelings for someone who didnt have them back
( ) stolen something from your job
( ) gone on a blind date
(x) lied to a friend
(x) had a crush on a teacher
( ) celebrated mardi-gras in new orleans
( ) been to Europe
( ) slept with a co-worker-clasm8!
( ) been married
( ) gotten divorced
( ) had children
(x) seen someone die
(x) had a close friend die
( ) been to Africa
( ) Driven over 400 miles in one day
( ) Been to Canada...
( ) Been to Mexico
(x) Been on a plane
( ) Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show
( ) Thrown up in a bar
( ) Purposely set a part of myself on fire
(x) Eaten Sushi
( ) Been snowboarding
( ) Met someone in person from the internet
( ) lost a child
(x) gone to college
(x) graduated college
( ) done hard drugs
( ) tried killing yourself
(x) fired a gun
(x) purposely hurt yourself
(x) taken painkillers
(x) LOVE someone or miss someone right now

i suppose this will now take up the entire blog page :) so i'll end it. i'll try... not promising anything here, to post something useful or insigtful next time or maybe a nice piece of fiction.

when drug tests weren't so popular

2005-02-07T08:40:00.000+08:00

invasion

when drug tests weren't so popular

Just a few of the windows error messages you can make here! It's great and fun.
the output is a bmp though i wish i can convert it to jpeg better.
hehe wish i can use it in my computer.

the up fair is going to be held on feb 14-20. my sister teased me that we missed the fair because they were packing up booths and the stage yesterday morning :) but fortunately enough we haven't. i hope i can get there at least for friday or saturday night. i'm still trying to get details on which bands are playing for the week.

My cousin told me in passing that the students in their school took drug tests. He is enrolled in an Interational school so I was mildly surprised to find out they are now testing high school students and in private scools as well.
Lately, the government has been more active in stopping drug use and I can't say I'm sad. It's hard enough driving with all of the bus drivers, jeepney drivers, truck drivers and taxi drivers but at least I can hope they're not stoned. (we're still not sure if the drivers who choose to steal all the lanes aren't stoned or drunk)
Plus, they can actually stop drug abuse in teens before it gets worse.

a few more things to be happy about

2005-02-04T09:56:00.000+08:00

my slippers at work (yes... we can wear them at work! i mean be kind to the engineers who actually spend their nights here) had to be replaced coz i broke the strap.
we went to market market last sunday and at watson's i bought a new pair. arlene always said they were really soft and she's right.
the best thing about it is that they have this simple character on the flap and they come in mint green (which i suprisingly realized, is my favorite shade of green). i got the mouse/bunny. i initially thought it was a mouse because it was initially paired off with a cat. unfortunately, i couldn't buy a pair with different designs.
they're sooo soft and yes now the characters in the slippers look like bunnies because my slippers flop.
i don't walk i flop :)
you might wonder why i just keep posting and posting.
yeah, work is kinda light.
kinda stands for days when the project "ended" and we're just fixing the bugs and i can go home early after 0-2 hours overtime.
and sometimes i just have too many things to say.
i'm still waiting for my lotr box set to arrive.
unfortunately before it arrives it has to be SENT!
sorry, i appreciate the gift and i will appreciate it even more when it actually gets here hehehe.
to the person involved... you promised!

blogs and the people behind them

2005-02-04T08:28:00.000+08:00

yup. a lot of people have them.
i think its a great internet invention.
for me, as a writer it helps because people do write meaningful things in them and you get a chance to read them. yeah enough drama... here's a few of my favorites/only blogs i actually know and read.

http://neilgaiman.com (Neil Gaiman)

--- umm... need i say more?

http://somethingpositive.net (Something Positive)

--- cool comics and a blog

http://ihatemyflatmate.blogspot.com/ (Things I hate about my flatmate)

--- this is hilarious. it's new, barely a month and yet the author updates it everyday without fail. every new day is a new source of misery. sometimes i wonder why she doesn't just kill her or if the author is a girl or a guy. though since she does know tampons, she must be a girl.

http://dustmotes.blogspot.com (The Litterbox Letters)

--- johann's blog. johann's usually the storyteller/game master at our rpg games. the oldest thing i remember about him was when he said "i hate elves" and at that game... i was one.

http://breakfastatmcdo.blogspot.com (The Adventures of Stinky and Tin)

--- tin's and johann's wedding blog (nice idea to have a blog by the way and in a couple of months, it'll turn to a marriage blog). all i can say is the gown is very beautiful and satin kicks the rest of the competition away. who needs lace and beadwork?

http://kiteflying.blogspot.com/ (Serpent Beneath the Flower)

--- tin's own blog. i just met her around 2 months ago but i like her and no, the fact that she gave me cookies when we first met has nothing to do with it :)

http://clair.pinoyweb.net/ (Blah)
http://eclair.bizhat.com/blog/ (Blah)
http://pedxing_04.blogspot.com/ (Crossroads)

--- i think clair posts on these three blogs. the first blog is her main blog and the second is her tech blog. she has got the cutest dog.. almost as cute as mine :) and yes i am biased.

http://sunshinysarcasm.blurty.com/ (Blood and Snow)

--- rej's blog. she gave me an idea for a good romantic place but tagaytay is far. then again i drive to alabang everyday so that's like just another hour or so...

http://www.tabulas.com/~seasprite (ending with a whimper)

--- my best friend dawn's blog. the same dawn mentioned before and possibly one of the few people who actually read my blog. hi!

http://thedragonwhodid.blogspot.com ( The Dragon Who Did)

--- of course, neal's blog which is still new and the title is related to mine.

i'm gonna place all of them in my links side anyway but i felt they needed introductions because i'm not a random clicker and thus, don't go to other people's links as well. try to visit them. tin's blog has literature stuff (links to short stories) and dawn's blog has lyrics to The Cure's songs among other things...

a few short (and late) introductions

2005-02-03T21:10:00.000+08:00

Why did I start this?
well ... the 53rd Palanca award winners were just announced. I didn't win.
:D
Unless there's any way you can win even if you haven't submitted a single thing... and I realized that I should have joined back then. Why? Because I've finished my studies, I've taken and passed my board, I already had a job and no matter how busy I was, I should have joined.
Plus, I 'm way past the age where I'd be the youngest Palanca winner (though I'm not sure how old the youngest winner is plus there's the Kabataan awardees...).
So I should force myself to write and this is it.

Where did I get the title?
"Dragons don't land here" is something that just popped in my brain one day. I was driving home one day and I saw this huge billboard of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" and it asked me ( as it asks everyone who reads it) "Where will you be?"
Good question.
My answer: here in the Philippines, the land where dragons never land and aliens too. Everything bad happens to well known countries. Too bad for them. :)

Who am I? (or a brief history)
Well, find me someone who can answer this question completely without saying their name and I'll probably ask him/her to answer the same question.
I'm a design engineer/frustrated writer who as i mentioned above, lacks any good reason to be a frustrated writer.
I've written a couple of stories and i've noticed that the best plays and short stories i have written involve at least one person dying, which by the way may be good or bad...
i still don't know.
i have lots of ideas most of the time but i don't get a chance to write them down or i don't know how to make it work yet. i found out i'm great under pressure so if i find myself hanging from a cliff i can probably finish a novel or two.
i was a weird kid. i loved reading even back then. my first book was nancy drew detective stories (hardcover novel of short stories on how to be a detective). i also had the original grimms fairy tales(also in hardcover) so in my early years i didn't know cinderella though i did notice the resemblance to Aschenputtel. my favorite fairy tale was from hans christian andersen -- the little mermaid (i also read the real version about the mermaids turning to foam and how she got a soul...) who died in the end.
yes, now i see the pattern.
i have lots of friends but i also have friends that i don't usually have contact with but are still close to me.
i used to write... a lot.
that was ages ago. before high school. probably because i lived in another world back then. heck, i even wrote on the back of my nancy drew book a story which i will never be able to read because i was still learning how to write(literally) back then.
then i got into high school and science and math kept getting in the way.
then college came and i found myself in the company of people who inspired me to write again and taught me other things as well.

Where did I get the icon?

The icon was just edited from a baby dragon picture. The baby dragon was found in a jar in Brittain. It's a hoax of course, but a really good one. I found the picture here but you'd have to settle for Neil Gaiman's version of it here because I couldn't find the article.

i'm sorry

2005-02-03T09:04:00.000+08:00

yup, another neil gaiman post... hopefully the last one till we actually get news whether he will go here or not.
i got news from johann yesterday that neil gaiman's visit to the Philippines is not supported by any major company. A bunch of his fans invited him and he agreed but before he can really go here, the money has to be raised and stuff like that.
Johann's girlfriend tin knows the guys involved ( she's in the business so she knows ) and johann told me the estimated amount needed. it's 150% of what I expected so that means neil gaiman might stay here for a while or I grossly miscalculated the hotel expenses.
Anyway, i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
----------
If I get more free time from work I'll try to change the look or at least update the links... I'm getting the blog addresses of my friends so I can add them too but it takes time.
I finished reading Sin City.
Well the comics cos gave me anyway. I have to hand it to Frank Miller. He's one of the directors and they managed to make the film exactly like the comics. I don't think he's going to change the plot or anything. The scenes even come from the comic book pages themselves.
The lines are exactly alike and Rosario Dawson is perfect for Gail and Clive Owen does look a bit like the new face of Dwight so I'm really excited about that.
Of course Constantine comes first and well, I haven't read the entire Constantine series but I like him. I know the movie plot might not be from the comics but I hope Keanu does John Constantine justice.
The new Batman movie will also have Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) as Ra's Al-Ghul and Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow as the villains. I just hope Katie Holmes actually fits in the movie coz I love Christian Bale as Batman, I've liked him in Swing Kids though I admit I liked Robert Sean Leonard (Neil Perry in Dead Poets Society) better.
----------------
I don't know why i get attached to some songs sometimes. Around a month ago I kept listening to "Comfortable" by John Mayer, a week ago to "Warrior is a Child" by Gary Valenciano and now "Name" by Goo Goo Dolls.

Hob's Leviathan

2005-02-02T07:04:00.000+08:00

All this talk about neil gaiman made me want to write about the first time I actually read his work.
Yup, I really do remember, like the fact that Nancy Drew was my very first book ( I learned to read with that book) and that I probably don't like Sydney Sheldon that much coz I read her when I was eight and got confused (possibly traumatized) by the love scenes.
I picked up a copy of Sandman: The World's End completely by chance.
Back in those days I'd go with my mom to Powerbooks (she was the manager back then) and I'd stay there from 9am to 11pm and just read books. I can finish a 300 page book in about half a day that time.
It was 9pm and the store was closing. I had just finished a book and it was too late to start on a new one so I sauntered off to the graphic novels planning to get the Frank Miller Batman novel. There was this table filled with Sandman graphic novels and I got curious and looked at it. Most of them had Introductions written by other famous authors and I was intrigued by the reviews so I chose one. I picked World's End because Stephen King wrote the Introduction for that one and I said to myself that if Stephen King bothered to write an Introduction for a comic book... then it must be good.
I have never read anything like it. The basic plot of people telling stories was familiar but everything else was different.
I was enjoying myself till I got to the third story: Hob's Leviathan.
I swear when I opened the two page spread with the monster I felt tiny. I was so caught up I didnt want to look up in the store because I might see it looking down at me.
Of course now I read the same story but it never has the same effect anymore.
Anyway I was hooked.
I got even more hooked when I read the story about neil gaiman's version of Snow White.
I was also very lonely because during those times my friends didn't know him.
I've spent the next few years dilligently looking for his books. Even got Good Omens from Amazon.com.
For 6 months now I've been reading his blog regularly and the guy's bloody brilliant even in his
blog. Lately other Filipinos have been asking him questions and I'm happy I'm not the only one looking forward to something that's 6 months away with too much excitement.
If you haven't heard of him you can choose any media you want : comics, novels, short stories, poems, children's books, television shows(Neverwhere though that may not be available here), movies (he translated Princess Mononoke and there's Mirrormask plus a bunch of movie adaptations for his other works). You can also read his online journal.
Off to work...

things to look forward to

2005-01-28T07:15:00.000+08:00

there are so many things to look forward to this year:
two weddings
a trip to palawan
constantine, sin city, (ok fine) fantastic 4
neil gaiman's new book-- anansi boys
and...

Neil Gaiman!!!!

yup. i was reading the blog when i saw this :

Incidentally, I'm trying to organise (well, I'm not actually doing the
organising) the promised signings in the Phillipines and Singapore before or
after the Melbourne convention and Australian book signings this summer. The
signing in the Philippines looks like it's happening, but I'm not sure about the
Singapore one, as originally I was going be brought in with Dave McKean by the
British Council, a plan that was scuppered by MirrorMask, and now I'm not really
sure who to talk to. (If anyone in Singapore has any bright ideas, feel free to
let me know.)

i don't even know when or where. well quite possibly after the anasi boys and in makati. well honestly i don't care coz i'm going to take the day off when he does come. :)
heck i did it for eve ensler and i love his work more.
not that meeting eve ensler was not great, she really did have good ideas and i liked her and she introduced me to monique wilson and they invited me to see the valentines day vagina monologues show with them.... ok im babbling. that was great.
neal by the way was silent beside me all the time probably asking himself how i can just chat these people up just like that.

anyway, had two dreams about meeting him here in the Philippines, both times I failed to get him to sign something. The one time I dreamt I saw him in some great beach resort I even though it was a dream and the people said no.

I thought it meant that borroms will be able to get his autograph during the Sundance Festival (I just found out this week that he was in a 5 mile radius of Neil Gaiman) but I was wrong. He really is coming here.

I can't wait to tell my friends. Cos and I used to do the "I'm the biggest fan" fight. I think. Well, they'll be thrilled. We can make a fieldtrip out of this. I just hope it doesnt conflict with the two weddings mentioned above because the rest of the dates can be moved around.

I think its fairly safe to say that Book Fairs are out of the question because we just don't do that here. It might be a toss between Powerbooks and Fully Booked. I hope it's Powerbooks, for personal reasons of course and the fact that I'll probably know the organizers wouldn't hurt too.

Oh well, i'll post the news when I get some.

the world's largest

2005-01-24T11:36:00.000+08:00

:) just a quick post.(longer ones will follow hehe)i just found out that the Philippine Eagle ( Pithecophaga jefferyi ) is the largest eagle in the world.
Now that's fun.
please visit the haribon website for more info.

birthdays, parties, beer and rootbeer

2005-01-21T14:21:00.000+08:00

leelee's 1st bday invitation
yup. lots of beer. what a promise and a definite sign that lots of quill people will attend.
my really cute godchild got to celebrate her 1st bday by drinking beer ( yes beer ) courtesy of her father, cos.
i have a feeling every year it's going to be : "Leelee, now you're really [insert age here] coz you drank beer!"
She wasn't feeling happy until around late afternoon and I only got her to like me because of rootbeer and a straw :) now we know the way to that child's heart.
i miss my friends. i only see gamer people at johann's and not even that often.
the people are still the same though either more glamorous ( like denise ) or more popular (like aldus and the purple chickens ) btw, it's kind of fun to know people before they were famous or to hear them writing their songs or their stories.
i hope that we will have big contributions to each of our respective fields. (drama!)
haraya was also there. i'll post a picture when i get a decent one coz he's shy. haraya is dong's and jewel's son.
the last time we saw him was his christening and now he's 4.
i feel weird when i see my friends being parents.
some people see them and think "i want a kid too".
i see them and my long term relationship barrier comes up.
i must have been a horrible kid.
rotfl.
seriously. being attached to anything more than 7 years kinda scares me.
i even got out of my elementary school because i just wanted to go. i couldn't take being there any more.
i wish i can go visit luna and cos and cel more often though. it's fun playing with her and i can get more comics from cos.
and he was after all the one i used to talk to about my relationships before i started talking to dawn and arf on a more regular basis. regular to me being once a month though im trying to change that.
my friends keep giving their kids filipino names that can be the source of future taunts though we think they're cute now. my mom told me i shouldn't follow suit. yeah she's one to talk, after she and my dad gave me my name.
i hope they give more parties. im planning on having a quill bday bash but i dont know where i can put all of them for a nice long night of drinking. anyway, cos and i will probably think of something up.
all i have to look forward to now is randall and maui's house warming and johann's and tin's upcoming wedding.

stimulated to appreciate IT

2005-01-20T19:25:00.000+08:00

I’m writing all this down tonight because tomorrow I have to finish this document. My friend clair told me about this beauty contest for IT professionals. Yes, they actually thought of such a thing. Apparently they have 2 categories, one for professionals aged 25-35 and one for the undergraduates. More details on the Digital Pinay can be found here.
Clair and some of her friends were really outraged at the idea. I just told her that I noticed that the newest tech magazines in the Philippines ( I saw two of them:T3 and something else I don’t remember ), always had sexy scantily clad women on the cover holding these tiny gadgets which you can barely see.
I’m not against sexy women posing on the cover. I like reading FHM too and a lot of women’s magazines do that as well. I just didn’t want to see those kinds of pictures on a technology magazine.
I told neal about it and he said something like “it’s ok because that’s their marketing strategy to make the magazines sell”. It was probably then that I realized exactly why it bothered me.
It bothered me that they use women to sell gadgets and technology because that meant only men were interested in purchasing magazines about technology and gadgets.
Suddenly it seemed to me that they aren’t even bothering to attract women who are also interested in using high tech gadgets.
That may be because either one, they think the number of women who are interested in technology is too small or two, women who love gadgets are lesbians.
The story does not end there. My friend emailed some people and their point of view was published in an internet article. She told me about it the next day and as I read it, I laughed because my friend quoted me.
She told the reporter about my magazine insight hehehe.

"I am offended by this competition because it seems
to me that the organizers are looking for a trophy to show around. This contest
seems to feed the culture of machismo that we seem to have in our country. If
this kind of thing goes on, we would just perpetuate the idea that women are
objects of beauty to behold. I was talking on YM [Yahoo Messenger] with one of
my friends and she said this: ‘It’s weird. In America they sell the tech mags
without girl pics but here? There’s always this half-naked girl in front with
the techie stuff that is so small it covers barely 10 percent of the cover.’ So
you see, there is this already a current problem with the perception of women in
the country as it is. We don’t need another beauty pageant to make things
worse," Ching told INQ7.net.
moral of the story: be careful what you say in YM :)
Anyway I do hope they realize that there are women could also be interested in their magazine articles. I know that though engineering is still considered a "man's course" female individuals are proving their capabilities in the field and even doing better than their male counterparts.

3 years shy of thirty

2005-01-18T13:27:00.000+08:00

i think one of the best moments we ever had happened yesterday. we were in the movie theater waiting for blade trinity ( i like the second blade better ) to start and he suddenly leaned over to my side and whispered in my ear
"you're my best friend"
(like a child who was admitting he liked me).
then he said "when (yes when not if!) we break up. i hope we still remain in good terms with each other".
i pointed out that he said "when" instead of "if" and he corercted his statement :) though it was a little too late.

when i told him his bday was coming up i told him: "do you even realize that in three years you'll be thirty?"
"oh my god"
was his reply.
"i have to get married before i become thirty..." he took my hand and asked: "do you think ill be able to find the right person before then?"

happy birthday!!!!

i hope you do find the right one.
:p hopefully someone better than the one clinging to your neck.

peppermint and chocolate

2005-01-14T18:25:00.000+08:00

i just want to say i love peppermint and chocolate!
and...
why did they pull out all the cadbury peppermint chocolate?

thank goodness for starbucks.
yes, i actually said that.
starbucks now has peppermint in hot coffee, peppermint in iced coffee, peppermint in frappucino and my favorite, peppermint in hot chocolate.

i love life.

by the way i said peppermint in coffee or chocolate not tea.
never in tea.
now that was like brushing your teeth while drinking.

the integrity of the internet

2005-01-14T06:55:00.000+08:00

i was reading neil gaiman's blog... yes as always.
i haven't read it in three days since i was absent doing nothing unless you consider fighting bugbears, guards, giant spiders and outwitting an ogre something.
being sick at home isn't as nice as it used to be.
anyway, he asked Teresa Nielsen Hayden a question and in her reply she mentioned that : "any idiot can put up a website".
suddenly all my days of researching stuff on the internet came back to haunt me.
i even thought of a good thesis idea for it: create websites of different genres: science, leisure, sports, gaming, movies, computers and even blog sites and check which sites are most likely to be believed by the public.
the internet can be a very helpful place but it can also be very deceitful.
as an example, when the movie Blair Witch Project was being promoted, a website containing "evidence" about the movie's truthfulness came out as well.
a lot of people really believed that it was true though old recordings of murder or tapes of weird happenings found after the people involved mysteriously disappeared is an old writing trick.
a friend of mine even got into an argument with me because he truly believed it was real.
i never actually got to the website so we don't know for sure if i could also have been influenced. i did believe the movie wasn't true way before i watched it and when i did watch it i realized i was correct.
well mostly coz in my opinion i wouldnt run in the forest with a camera if someone was after me.
i was also mildly disappointed that i didn't get scared at all. i have an overactive imagination but nope, nothing bad came out. i didnt even get scared afterwards. not like the Ring series which made me rue the day i got the big tv(big enough for Sadako to go through).
of course my friend had to admit defeat when the actress showed up at the Golden Globe Awards.
dead people dont show up at the Golden Globe Awards.
what about blogs...
isn't it amazing that people could be living entirely different lives in these pages. i'm sure a lot of people who have blogs write about their experiences truthfully (some even got fired for complaining about their jobs) but there must be people out there who use this to create new lives.
who knows if what im writing is true?
i dont even know which of my friends read this or if they did how will thy tell people im spreading lives?
sometimes we get touched by things that aren't even true.
like in my email, i got message with the letter Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote as a farewell to the public called "A Genius Bids Farewell". Which turned out to be a hoax.
Blogs are people's novels about their lives or the lives they lead and in my opinion, the only kind of web page allowed to lie.
My only advice is to double check everything you research. Even websites that want to be truthful can get bad information from other websites and just because they say they are an expert doesn't mean that they are.
hehe happy surfing.

snakes and a brief look at dr brady barr

2005-01-05T06:37:00.000+08:00

ok, i didnt really see a snake. i have seen one and i've even held one once but my entry is about this dream i had last night. my family had just moved in a new apartment. it was beautiful, a condominium type apartment where our place was at the end of the building's hallway where our own hallway led to the left and right sides of the building. The place was fully furnished with light furniture, not my style but i liked it.
for some strange reason, my father bought two snakes as pets. yup, the big poisonous ones. I think one of them was silver and colorful and the other was a black snake. in my dream they were a cobra and a rattlesnake though they clearly weren't. we were tying them up because they were dangerous and we were also making sure their mouths were shut. the black snake was completely tied but we were just starting on the silver one. we even had help from the people who caught the snakes.
we then left and my dad left to pick up my uncle and we left the snakes behind. when my mom, sister and i got back home, the silver snake had gotten loose and was in the process of eating the other black snake. i took my mom and sister out of there and locked the door.
it was a good thing my dad was already on is way back.
i checked the snake again inside the house and it became huge like a giant cobra from the movies. a big green giant cobra.
i then decided i hated snakes and left before it ate me.
my dad finally got home with my uncle, who i met outside. i asked him what we should do. my dad suggested we catch it and i said it was too big to be caught, i asked hime if i could kill it but i didnt have a gun and for something that big, i needed major firepower. my dad argued that we should spare its life and put it back in the wildlife. that is usually my stand though he hadnt seen how big the snake had become at this point.
ok this is the funny part, there was a small national geographic office right beside our home. so we contacted dr brady barr. who got there in 5 minutes. yup coolness.
of course i shook his hand :) im never shy around celebrities (including writers, scientists and sports personalities) and i love meeting people like that. i went back in and the snake had become an isis. half woman, half snake with 4 small feet. yes i know isis dont have feet its my dream. she was walking in our hallway before turning into a guy i think i know.
then i woke up.

i googled snakes and drams and got this where the author wrote:

In writing about Snake Symbolism, Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. wrote, "People who are dying or who have lost a loved one often dream of snakes, at or near the time of death. For whatever reason, these dreams seem involved with the psychic awareness of the transition from this life to the next...."
Carl Jung talks about a similar connection between earth and heaven in his discussion on the snake as a symbol for medicine. In Man and His Symbols, he writes, "perhaps the commonest dream symbol of transcendence is the snake, as represented by the therapeutic symbol of the Roman god of medicine Aeseulapius, which has survived to modern times as a sign of the medical profession. This was originally a nonpoisonous tree snake; as we see it, coiled around the staff of the healing god, it seems to embody a kind of mediation between earth and heaven."

which is nice...

the snakes were in the beginning the victims. we tied them up, drugged them. even when they escaped, well the silver one did anyway, it wasnt threatening us. it was just claiming our home. it didnt want to go out either even when the door was opened and it didnt kill anyone who was stupid enough to go in our house.

other web sites say that the snake can mean treachery, or something phallic. as if everything else isnt interpreted as a phallic symbol anyway. it is a fear that needs to be faced.

oh well. i like the first one. it is related to me because it is true. though something else is hidden in the dream. i just have to figure it out.