The Story Thus Far.

test

2010-11-25T13:19:00.001+08:00

test

Rubbish!

2010-11-22T15:31:00.003+08:00

There was a mishap on my first Oracle movie night last friday at resort's world so I wasn't table to watch it earlier. I made it a point to watch it on saturday though. I was alone since my supposed date was busy with family matters.

Anyway, I think I'm the only one who didn't like it. I've read the book quite a number of times so I know the story pretty well and there are some stuff that wasn't included in the movie. But what I gripe the most is the people who haven't read the book squeaking on how good the movie is. Especially this acquaintance of mine who was like "OMFG part 1 was so cool". I asked her if she was able to even read the book. When she said no, I just lol'ed.

And now that the Hunger Games movie is on its way, I guess there will be a lot of posers sprouting soon.

Progress!

2010-11-17T09:20:00.002+08:00

So, I've been doing this Strength training for 6 weeks. My squats have increased and I can almost squat my own body weight. Deadlifts have progressed as well. My shoulder press and bench press have progress, but not as much as Squats and Deadlifts. I've exchanged power cleans with rows because rows is easier to perform.

Anyway, yesterday, I've tried doing pull ups. Guess what? I did quite a number of sets with it. I was never able to do that before. I was just happy that I can do them now. I've decided to continue this routine as long as I can milk something from it. :)

One year after RD.

2010-11-08T13:59:00.001+08:00

About 4 years ago, I found myself centered on a computer screen. I was starting to learn the ropes of the corporate world. Admittedly, it was not fun and I marked it as a tedious chore. As time progresses, I was able to digest that I'll be stuck working for other people for a long time since I was not born with the proverbial silver spoon on my mouth.

Eventually, I managed to ~~like~~ love work. I find it not a bit tedious even. I was able to learn a few technologies, and as a programmer, I reckon this bit was essential. Not because experience on these techs are essential to rake in the moolahs, but to progress as an individual.

I found new friends, I remember myself hanging out Friday nights to Saturday mornings on Baywalk just to pass the time. I even go out with them on weekends instead of resting or catching up with my other friends. I got to know other kinds of people as well. There's the occasional corporate freak += geek amalgamation, the complete asshole (you know who you are), the zombie guy who rarely talks and others.

In other words, the corporate world merged with my so-called social life. I was led to believe that those two entities don't mix together and I found myself misled. I might even go as far as calling the office my second home?

After last year, when most of my team were let go (i.e., banished from the land, ass kicked out, fired) due to (as far as I know) economic reasons, I found myself trying to get back to the corporate rat race. I was not (yet) bitter since they gave me means to start some business with the money they gave me (SLs, VLs, last pay, Christmas bonus etc). I just thought they gave me an early Christmas bonus.

After a month of the 'Great RD ass kick-out' I landed a job at OSRP. All I can say that things were never the same. I have some of my former RD friends there, so it was like RD. The environment is pretty much the same as RD minus the casual clothes. The people were like RD guys as well. I left after 6 months because of some asshole boss and that was it. I sometimes miss the 'one-ride-gets-you-to-RD' every time I commute to my new office (hell, that's one of the reason I lasted 3 years in RD), but I guess I can never look back.

After a few months, I landed a job with Oracle, a pretty big IT company. Biggest I worked for so far. I was surprised with the environment. Everything is documented, they require you to follow protocols and stuff, and some other amazing things. They even got robo-coffee vendo, free juice and movies and stuff. Lol.

Anyway, I came to realize something that a ~~mentor~~ friend of mine told me 5 years ago when I worked for ATP - something about being a leech; get everything you can from a company, grow wings and fly away. Grow wings, burn bridges and never look back. That was his corporate motto. Now it is mine too.

Week 5!

2010-11-02T08:40:00.002+08:00

During work days, I always wake up at around 6AM to prepare my meal for the day. This, right here, would be the kitchen scenario everyday. I was able to do some grocery yesterday, so I'll be able to have complete meals. And oh yeah, today marks the fifth week of my routine. (Taking into note that I missed 2 days of workout last week, since I climbed a mountain. Well, I guess it counts as a workout too)

For the menu today, I will be having:

Breakfast: Peanutbutter Sandwich, Nuts, Milk + Whey.

Snack: Oatmeal cookies, some nuts, whole egg, water.

Lunch: Chicken Macaroni Salad, Juice.

Snack: Chicken Sandwich, Whey, Nuts, whole egg, whey. (Before workout)

Snack: Whey, nuts. (After workout)

Dinner: Salad, water.

Before going to sleep: Milk.

Wish me luck! :)

Gulugod.

2010-10-25T15:19:00.003+08:00

Even with my injury, I still went with the IBM Blue Mountaineers for a fun climb at Mt. Gulugod-Baboy at Batangas. Bunch of cool people, really accommodating and the love what they do. I'll really climb with them again. :)

This week I'll continue with my Strength training since my back was fucked up last week and had to skip 2 workouts. :( Anyway, I hope I'll get back on track this week. My diet was also fucked up so I'll be clean starting today.

4

2010-10-22T08:13:00.004+08:00

I took the plunge and bought my second iPhone (iPhone 4). I discovered that you can restore everything from your previous iPhone thru iTunes including pics, contacts, messages and even the wallpaper. Cool.

Anyway, as joy was coursing through my body like Christmas morning, I upgraded it to a later version with no available unlock yet, so yeah, I am totally screwed. I cannot even restore it (don't know why). I woke up at 5, prepared, grabbed the keys to the car and drove immediately to office (since we have faster connection here lol). The people at applei (Philippine's motley crew of Apple fanatics), helped me a lot and I was told that it's a 50% chance I'll get my phone to use Globe. So if things get hairy, I would have in my hands a 40k music player. Fuck. That is, until the Unlock is released.

I hope I can fix this. Damn.

----

Update:

I was able to fix it. I thought I'll go to Greenhills and let the boss fire the poor woman on telling me wrong info.

Week 2: Done

2010-10-18T08:43:00.002+08:00

Done with week 2 of SS. I can't believe my squats and deadlift has gone up steadily. I can almost squat my body weight. My current is like 110 pounds. Give me 2 weeks and I can squat more than that.

Anyway, this week, my training will be cut short because I have a climb this Saturday and I don't want to compromise the chances of my legs being too tired to climb, so I think I'll dumb down my training and lift a lighter weight this week. I can't believe how fast this is working, I can see muscles beginning to show especially on my legs. I am excited for this.

As for diet, well, it's pretty so-so. I think I screwed up the weekends because me and my friends went out last Friday and Saturday and I ate like a cow. Note that I am not doing cardio for this training, so that sucks pretty good. There's a new release for Combat and I didn't participate in it. Also, I make it a point not to weigh myself. :)

My notebook is not with me so I cannot post the stats here. And my form is still pretty off, once I get it nailed, I'll post exact stats. Good luck to me.

GOMAD

2010-10-13T08:12:00.002+08:00

I gave Gallon of milk a Day and all I can say is that it almost killed me. I literally shat cheese. It was terrible I tell you. :) So I think GOMAD is for Westerners only. :)) I was farting and shitting the whole day. LOL. I was like a cheese cake factory, and it was god-awful.

I'll try at least a litre a day.

As for my workout yesterday (B-A-B), it was good. I tried power cleans for the first time and since no one in the gym knows what that is, no one corrected me since I felt that my form is still a little off. My first stats for power cleans are:

bar 2x5

10 1x5

15 1x5

20 1x2

25 3x5

These are, of course, in KG. As per suggested, i didn't take my weight, to surprise myself. I am feeling good about this routine and I can't wait to see results.

PS: Damn that milk!

Below Standards.

2010-10-12T09:39:00.002+08:00

I found this link while checking on the correct form of the power clean - http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html. This shows the standard weight an individual should be lifting given his body weight and training group (novice, beginner, advanced etc). I don't know if this is a standard for westerns, but since it gives weight, I think I should follow it too.

Seems like I'm pretty below standard, as far as the table is concerned. Though I'm still on my "linear progression" stage so I think I'll hit the average.

Here's my current stats:

Squats: 77lbs vs 91-168lbs.

Press: 38lbs vs 61-84lbs.

Bench: 77lbs vs 98-125lbs.

DLs: 88lbs vs 113-209lbs.

Clean: Haven't tried this yet, but I'll incorporate this today since I want to stick to the book as much as possible.

Today I'll be on B-A-B workout. And I'll add a few pounds on the weights. So I hope there's something there. :)

Week 1: Done

2010-10-10T18:20:00.003+08:00

First week of SS Training.

Although I don't have any visual confirmations yet, I feel something is starting. I've only worked out for 3 days but I feel my body is stressed afterwards, which for me, is a good thing. I've been working out for at most 5 days a week and I don't feel that way, so I guess, this routine is much effective. And for the first time in years, I didn't take a combat class for a week since I've taken cardio off the routine. Of course, I miss cardio but I think I can incorporate that later on my routine. I want to stick to the book as much as possible.

I had a couple day screw up with my diet. Last friday, I had an eat all you can at Market Market and 3 bottles of beers. :( The next day I ate more than I should have. I hope 2 days don't hurt. Today, I've stuck to a clean diet and hope that next week this will continue. :)

Business Ethics, Sexual Harassment training and Kota Kinabalu.

2010-10-08T08:29:00.005+08:00

I'm almost done with Oracle's mandatory online courses - Business Ethics and Sexual Harassment Training. Other companies hold a simple presentation about this, but Oracle has their own online course regarding them. Now you see how a global company handles things. Pretty cool for me, though I haven't really taken the time to read them because they're so long. Lol.

Anyway, a friend found out that I'm not going to Bali, KL anymore this month. Why? I haven't had the guts to ask for leave given that I'm only 2 weeks in here in Oracle. So I was invited to climb Kota Kinabalu. That's in Malaysia, folks. It will be my first international climb. From what I've read, it's higher than Pulag but it's not that hard and is very tourist friendly. Which is fine by me because if I ever die because of mountain climbing mishap, I want it to be in the Philippines. This climb will be in February, so I guess I have earned some leaves by then.

Also, I will have my second climb with IBM Blue Moutaineers this October. This time at Gulugod. I'm also excited about this one because I've heard so much about it, and I wanted to try it for myself. See if I still had the mountain-climbing-spirits with in me.

As few of you know, I sold my 70-200 lens last month. Well, I've only used it a few times and I don't think it might be useful in my travels. I've brought it once in Palawan, but it was heavy as hell and I can't definitely bring it on climbs. Well, I had fun with it though, I once shot a Drift show, used it to shoot some people surfing and other street stuff. I might get a wide lens, because it's much more appropriate in travels.

Journal: Week 1, Day 2 of SS.

2010-10-07T15:17:00.003+08:00

I started SS last Tuesday and just now, I decided to chronicle my progress on Starting Strength. I was supposed to do some complimentary training yesterday but I got a slight injury (because of my wrong dead lifts, I guess) and I read that I should just STICK TO THE FREAKING BOOK regarding this training program.

So in day 2, I'll do the set B of the program. (Each exercise with warm up sets)

Squats 3x5

Press 3x5

Rows 5x3 --> Book says Power Cleans but I think I can't do that yet, so I'll have rows here

I think my current weight is at 130, I'll check on this later. I might have gained a little weight since I last checked because of my clean diet, and I feel heavier, but maybe it's just me. I'll get my exact weight later.

As a recap, last Tuesday (before I got injured) I had this starting stats:

Squats 40kg 3x5

Bench 22.5kg 3x5

Dead lifts 60kg 1x5

I'll progress next week by adding a little weight depending on how I adapt. Later, I'll check on what I can lift with my presses and rows so I can have my starting stats for those as well.

As for diet, I've eaten the following for the day:

Morning: 1 cup rice + viand, egg whites, milk + whey

Brunch: 2 nutrivalley bar

Lunch: salad (lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, chicken, 1 tbsp mayo), mango juice

Note: I left this blog for a while to attend an all hands meeting, then they gave free pizzas for everybody. I ate two. :(

Before workout: 2 pizzas, 1 pineapple juice, 1 whey

After workout: whey

Dinner: Salad meal above.

I'll update every progress here. My goal is to get to 140 before the year ends.

Update: I now weigh 134. 4 pounds is a good sign of progress though it's not visible. YET.

Anyway, I got my stats after workout.

Squats: Still the same. I haven't tried loading more so I can get the hang of it. Although I think I have some error in form because I can't seem to straighten my wrists. I'm gonna check more vids.

Press: I can press 7.5 kgs. I can't do 10. YET.

Rows: I can do 17.5 but improper form, so I stuck with 12.5.

/update

New beginnings.

2010-10-06T09:08:00.004+08:00

So I'm done with my first week with Oracle. All I can say that working for a big firm is a change for me. There are lots of documentations, processes and other stuff - which for me, is good albeit a bit too "taxing" for a happy-go-lucky guy like me. As for the commuting, all I can say that it's a freaking battlefield everyday. 5 years ago, during my first work, it isn't like what it is now during mornings, but nowadays, damn, it's hell. I've tried a few routes, but it seems the best and fastest route requires me to stand on buses and wait on freaking long lines. On days I don't go to gym, the travel time is 2 hours. I also tried bringing a car, but hell, 300 gas and parking? No way. Anyway, I think this will be worth it.

As for technical stuff - I think Oracle is pretty cool (I love the documentations, the technical cookbooks etc). Although I'm a bit worried (and skeptical) that I'll do a little coding from what I've seen so far from the trainings I've been. I've asked about this from a guy from the team, he said that I don't have to worry since he codes. Well, I don't want my gears to get rust, so to speak.

My plan is to get certs. One of the reason I declined a contractual job at RCBC (big money, but no benefits) and didn't take my other interviews seriously, is that Oracle now owns Sun - the guys who made Java (the stuff I breathe in for the past 5 years of my working career). That's pretty big. And I hear they're going to change the Certifications from (example) Sun Certified Java Programmer to Oracle Certified Java Programmer. Well, that's pretty cool. I plan to get SCWCD next year and I'll try to get the Enterprise Cert too if time allows. Then I'm off to a far off place. Yeah, I'm pretty particular with my time plan and stuff.

Anyway, outside Oracle, it seems like I can't pursue my plans to going to KL and Bali this October although I got my tickets already. I can't go asking for leaves because I've only worked here for a week. I was told that my team is one of the core teams of Oracle, so I can't compromise that. I gave up a few vacays to prepare for this one but hey, things don't usually go smooth. So instead of having 5 days taken off me, I decided not to go at all to the trip. I said sorry to the trip master (Hi Phil) and I look forward to the next trip he'll cook up (although it's not out of country).

For health stuff, I decided to go healthy. I want to maximize my workouts so I started from scratch since my gains are pretty non existent - not that I workout poorly (I got lots of that, thank you), but I think the slow gains come from diet. I'm the kind of guy who rarely ask for help, and usually rely on the net to get answers, so I had a screwed up program that didn't help me.

As for the "healthy" diet - I eat at least 5 times a day. No rice. I eat rice on my free days and mornings if I can't help it. My main meal is salad with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, chicken, cheese, and a teaspoon of dressing. I don't eat junk anymore and I always have a health bar or a sandwich with peanut butter on it.

I got a few pounds on but it seems to me that my damn belly is deteriorating bit by bit. A few people notices, so it's good enough for me. As for workout, I scratched the whole ego thing, and started from scratch. I think this will work. I hope this works. Come summer, I wish I have abs. Hehe. Well, that's a long shot, but everything starts from something, doesn't it?

I hope everything goes forward this time. I will not compromise and will not make excuses. And again, as the great Kelso once said - "The world is an oyster, and I'm ready to shuck it."

Coming back, looking forward.

2010-09-14T23:04:00.002+08:00

It's been a long time since I blogged. I don't get to share feelings anymore. I can say I am more of a closed book now versus the open one I had been for years. I've learned to shut feelings, so others can read them.

I went to Mapua yesterday and today to get my 2nd TOR (requirement for Oracle). Mapua's hassle's the same, but it's interior is pretty different. Much different in fact, that I tried to remember the differences from 5 years ago when I schooled there. Of course, it's changes are for the better - HDTVs, nice red interior, LCD monitors (versus the crappy ones we had) etc. The list goes on.

After I had done my errands, I walked around the school I called home for 3 years. A lot of memories flooded me - the way me and my friends hang on the lobby, the JPCS area, the lounge and the canteen.

Everything seems to be much smaller now, but the memories never left me. I had a lot of fun, trials, tests, tribulations and friends. Me and my friends laughed and joked around every time, problems so far from our minds. I experienced to fall love in these halls. I experienced heart break in these corridors. I experienced life.

And now as I look back, I never regret all my actions for it brought me where I am today. Sometimes in life, you always look back. And when you look back, you somehow weigh the what if's and the what could have beens. If it's for the better or if it's for the worse. What matters is that it made who you are today. And today is all that matters.

All I can say to the people I got the chance to know is thank you. For everything.

New blog. Again. Www.carlvela.byethost32.com

2009-11-03T23:25:00.001+08:00

Aw, Geocities.

2009-10-29T07:57:00.003+08:00

My blogger got ruined because I upload my codes in geocities. I'll revert it to a generic template. :(

Annoying.

2009-09-14T21:11:00.001+08:00

Pag sinabi kong wala, wala. Umuwi ka pa dito, sana di ka na lang umuwi. Hindi na nakakatuwa yung bawat 30 minutes magrerequest ka ng kung ano ano. Leche.

I'm sorry, I'm leaving.

2009-09-09T21:47:00.000+08:00

Moving on to carlvela.wordpress.com.

Tired.

2009-09-06T17:28:00.003+08:00

Last Friday I wasn't able to go the gym because there's a Combat marathon at FF the following morning. So I was saving up energy for that. And of course, I want to log some hours on Arkham Asylum.

I woke up at about 5:30AM on Saturday because I can't go any farther than that nowadays. And if sleep exceeds 6 hours, I'll be feeling a little woozy. So I opted to do some running but I found out that it rained last night and the road is wet. So I decided to just stay on my room. At about 10 AM I went to gym. The car isn't around so I have to brave the floody streets of Vergon and commute. I did some weights and at 1PM the marathon started. Normally, Combat lasts for only an hour, this time, it's 2 hours. I did some Combat Marathon before so I know I can do it.

There are at least 50 people on the room at the start of the marathon. At the end we were only 20 or so. So that's a little accomplishment to myself. After that, I went home. I was also planning to go to the Jabbawockeez show at ATC and get some pictures in. But due to the two hours Combat, I was pretty swamped. So I just stayed at my room.

A couple of hours later, my friend invited me to Poker night. So I obliged since I haven't been with them for quite some time. I got back home at 6AM, pretty much wasted due to fatigue not because I was drunk. I was planning to go the office to finish up some work since I still have no idea if there's work on Monday because the RD guys in FB are confused on it as well.

So I slept for a few hours. 4 hours to be exact. I woke up at 11 and went to the gym again to get the adrenaline pumping to wash out my swamped feeling. Another normal Combat session and the feeling is great. I drove to a shop to get some DVDs for my DVD night and went straight to home.

So I was pretty much swamped as I type this entry.

Shooting the Shooter

2009-08-23T07:36:00.001+08:00

Shooting the Shooter,
originally uploaded by Carl Allan Vela.

Just got home from La Union. We were planning to surf but unfortunately, the waves are not cooperative. We were there for 2 days, enjoying the beach and the company of each other.

There are lots of people too, given that it was holiday. Good thing we have girls on the group to organize the trip. Anyway, it was all good.

Untitled.

2009-08-04T09:10:00.002+08:00

Wow, I never thought I'd say this but this is the first time I am feeling bored at work. It all feels so monotonous. Yeah, I know, being in the corporate world is monotonous but for me, it has been taken to the next plane, so to speak.

Lately, I've been planning on resigning, and I've been thinking about it a lot. I know we're still in recession and there are a few guys kicked out of the company for no solid reason whatsoever, but I need to take this risk. I need to grease the old gears and study again. IT is a pretty competitive world, and I don't want to get left behind, and if you don't take risks, then you'll never get far.

What sucks is that like most of my colleagues, I never got the annual mid year bonus + increase. I look forward to that but what I look forward most was the thing my boss said during my evaluation early this year. You know, the 'P' word. He was saying something along the lines of - "I don't tell these kinds of things during evaluations but that means that it will really happen." Few months later - nada, zero, zip. It sucks because I think it's never going to happen.

And I think no one is safe in the lay offs, I might be next, who knows? I've been with the company for three years and yeah, there's some kind of fulfillment on that - you know, to have lasted this long. I've gained a solid ground work on the corporate world which I didn't get during my first working stint at ATP. RD has molded me and for that I am grateful.

But being grateful will not take you anywhere, like my first friend in the corporate world, Rico said you have to suck all out of a company. Learn what you have to learn and fly. You're not in this world to get as many friends as possible - you're here to build a foundation for the future.

So, 'utang na loob' aside. I think it's time. It has been fun.

Three Cheers for Five Years

2009-08-03T11:17:00.001+08:00

I swear that you don't have to go
I thought we could wait for the fireworks
I thought we could wait for the snow
To wash over Georgia and kill the hurt
I thought I could live in your arms
And spend every moment I had with you
Stay up all night with the stars
Confess all the faith that I had in you
To late, I'm sure and lonely
Another night, another dream wasted on you
Just be here now against me
You know the words so sing along for me baby
For heaven's sake I know you're sorry
But you won't stop crying
This anniversary may never be the same
Inside I hope you know I'm dying
With my heart beside me
In shattered pieces that may never be replaced
And if I died right now you'd never be the same

I thought with a month of apart
Together would find us an opening
And moonlight would provide the spark
And that I would stumble across the key
Or break down the door to your heart
Forever could see us not you and me
And you'd help me out of the dark
And I'd give my heart as an offering

And I will always remember you as you are right now to me
And I will always remember now
Sleep alone tonight with no one here just by your side
How does he feel, how does he kiss
How does he taste while he's on your lips
I can't forget you
I know you want me to want you
I want to
But I can't forgive you
So when this is over don't blow your composure baby
I can't forgive you
I know you want me to want you I want to

Bicol.

2009-07-20T08:15:00.002+08:00

Ang ganda ng Calaguas. Wala lang. Words fail to give justice to the beauty of the place. I've been many times to Bicol but this is my first time seeing this much beauty in Bicol. The water pristine, the sands are so powdery and fine.

Sige wala na ako masabi, check niyo nalang sa facebook yung pics.

Wow.

2009-06-25T08:03:00.002+08:00

I was a little late on the news but it seems like Maricar Reyes surfaces to face issues. According to the blogosphere, she was a guest at ASAP and has a new show in ABS CBN. Talk about taking on issues head on. That was a very brave move for her and it deserves admiration.

iPhone 3G(S)

2009-06-16T15:22:00.003+08:00

Can't wait for iPhone 3gs to come out. It'll be only a few days and geek-vana once again. I've had my iPhone for almost 2 years now - it's still in it's pristine condish but I can't deny it's showing its age. I let iPhone 3G pass - I thought it's features is not reason enough to buy a new phone. But when I saw 3g's features, man, I was swept.

I've immediately downloaded it's video using an app in apple's app store (that's a lot of app) and watched it over and over again. Yeah, there are third party apps with cut-copy-paste features, search features, voice recorder etc... and I don't really need the revamp in the camera because I already have an slr... but man, after that 13 minute video - I wanted this new phone badly.

iPhone 3g S features faster engines, better everything, sweeter functions. This is the feeling of technology, man. When I first had my phone, I was like a little girl on a backstreet boys concert. Now I am itching to get this new one. Looks like my old iPhone has served its purpose. But I bet my ass that Globe will overprice this yet again, that's the reason I bought a blackmarket phone and unlocked it myself. But if it is the only way to get my hands on 3g S then so be it. I'll subscribe... but if I wait, I know there'll be blackmarket phones available like months after and there'll be hackers who'll be able to unlock it again... Apple doesn't deny it, that their machine is hacked, they even tried to hire hackers...

Ok, got to go..

Hiding under the horrible weather.

2009-06-06T07:00:00.003+08:00

You know, I like rainy seasons. I like a lot. But when it's going on for 4 straight days... it starts to bug me. To make matters worse, last night after work and my usual Friday circuit workout, the traffic was it's absolute worse. Man, I was like 2 hours stuck in traffic. Combine the two and you get the perfect recipe for a bad day.

Then I woke up today at 5 (because of a disturbing dream), which is a usual for me, by the way even if it's a weekend. Booted up the laptop and surfed the net. Nothing new. And I realized that my itinerary for Saturday is zero. So, most likely, I'll just end up finishing this book I've been reading lately. Then after that, I'll go play some 360 then surf some more. Maybe play some DVDs or something. I got a few new ones last week that I haven't popped in the player yet since I am not in the movie mood lately.

Anyway, there are also quite a number of people who wants me to update my mediocre flickr account. Too bad there haven't been a lot of photo ops lately since summer is gone and the rainy season is on. I got to snap a few pics last Sunday though at ATC when I happen to bring my camera and Urbandub was playing a gig there. And I hope tomorrow's weather will be better because there's a walk the world event.

Wew, this entry is getting longer than usual, which means that I must be pretty bored. I can't get out of the house, don't want to drive in this weather, can't go back to sleep, ran out of things to surf (I checked my FB, FS, Multiply, Flickr accounts; checked out statcounter; checked out Onemanga for the new WSJ releases etc).

Yeah, so I better get some breakfast.

End hunger one step at a time.

2009-06-05T14:48:00.002+08:00

Ok, we got our shirts and certs for the End Hunger: Walk the World event a while ago at Travel Club at Glorietta. Yeah, it's that little shop beside TNF shop which sells bags and other stuff.

It's a good deed that is certain to help someone. By partaking in the said event, not only you get to burn unwanted fats, but you also get to help a poor hungry kid. And you'll also get yourself a shirt and a nifty bandana. Not bad eh?

The event will start at 6AM at 2 entry points around Roxas. Then the crowds will converge and walk around until 10AM, just in time for Brunch.

Do something good today, register.

Clicky the linky:

http://www.wfp.org/how-to-help/individuals/walk-the-world

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

2009-05-20T08:44:00.002+08:00

I finally finished Vesperia a few weeks back. I know, it was out forever but my HD got corrupted (bye, gamerscore) so there, I have to forget the story and start a new game. The game was absolutely mindblowing, everythings it upper tier. Top notch. And it's safe to say that ToV is at par with the old scool JRPGS of the yesteryears.

Gaming is like food - when you have your favorite, you can't seem to get to try a new one. This is what happened with Star Ocean: TLH. I was blown away with my ToV experience that I seem don't want to try any JRPG anymore. So I was pretty slow in playing SOTLH, I was playing for 30 minutes, save and do other things like catching up on my reading, or watching the sucky latest Heroes arc.

But after observing that SOTLH kept its save points scarce, I found myself trying to complete a frigging hour dungeon just to save. At first it was a chore, then it became fun. I was never a fan of big dungeons because I always want to find out what happens next, story-wise. But when you digest the fact that SOTLH will never give you a dungeon which only has point A to B, you'll realize that you can and will enjoy an RPG like this.

Cliche-wise, SOTLH has that everywhere you look - Tale of war, friendship and betrayal, Palom and Porom knockoffs, spiky yellow haired hero, innocent leading lady, androgynous magician, hulky robots, aliens, magic, scifi wars fought with frigging' swords, summons (eidolons, GF whatever it's called nowadays)... the works. But that is overriden by the fact that though cliche ridden, the manner of how everything is brought together works. You get to overlook everything. Yeah, even the shitty voice acting. Never I heard voice acting shitty like this. There's no Japanese voice option so you have to endure 40 mins of cutscenes of pure shittiness. Yeah, the cutscenes is kind of Metalgear4-esque, also as beautiful but with voice acting like that... good luck.

The game spans 3 discs which is most likey because of lengthy cut scenes and the huge world. You get to collect spaceships, travel vast planets and when I say vast - I mean VAST. Good thing you have your dashbutton because it sure is annoying to have scarce save points and running to your next destination in a dungeon as huge as SOTLH dungeons.

Annoying shits aside, SOTLH is an JRPG game worth the time, effort and annoyance. Not as perfect as Vesperia but one of the contenders of this gens JRPG greats.

Killing time with this useless post.

2009-05-20T08:20:00.004+08:00

I just realized that you cannot cross-post from Blogger to Multiply anymore? Anyway, I don't get to log in to Mulitply much these days because of Facebook but it was such a nifty feature in Blogger that it's pretty close to alarming. (Though there's an app in Facebook which lets you cross-post to your FB boxes in a jiffy.)

Ok, what to write... yeah, this morning I while I was prepping up to go to the office, I was watching my usual morning news (besides my morning TV, I don't watch TV anymore, because even Cable programs suck nowadays - except for NBA, UFC and my weekly dose of Mythbusters.)

On the 2 morning shows, there was an interview with Bong Revilla regarding the Hayden incident (it was synchronized because after the interview with 7, another interview with ch.2 was done). It was pretty annoying to watch how brutalized this Bong Revilla feels with what happened. Yeah, it's sick and all but to pay local TV to air your side? (Hate to burst your bubbles but sometimes, people pay the stations to air what you feel) And this Hayden dude I think was apprehended at the airport or something and he looks surprised that he was actually being sued by Katrina. (Yeah, that's what you get when messing with a public figure, asshole.)

Ok, I am not being a hypocrite so I'll say that I downloaded Hayden's videos and it was sick like the Edison Chen dude. He also records sexual encounters with girlfriends or one night stands. There was this chick from his UST school days (says the forums) which looks familiar so I scoured the net to find out that this was to modess ad model. There was also this foreigner chick and of course, Katrina.

Bong Revilla, on the interview, said that there *might* be a minor girl with a video with Hayden which urged Bong to a file a bill against pornography. Come on, pornography has been around for ages and why the hell did this dude got to idea of passing a bill just after the Katrina incident? Beats me.

Yeah, and I before I go the shuttle bound for Makati, I saw the papers today with headlines like: "Keps ni Katrina, nilafang ni Hayden." Ok... I was like, what the hell? That's why I given up on reading daily papers nowadays with trash like that, even the Big Papers are trash too - Politics, scams, sports-celebrities wanting to join politics, sports-celebrity mom dating a D.I. - what the hell?

Ok, the boss just saw me blogging. Got to go.

Angels and Demons...

2009-05-16T19:15:00.002+08:00

...Sucked.

Well, I knew this even before the moment I paid a hundred plus bucks. Not a big fan of book to movie adaps so I might be biased and to count, I only enjoyed a few of such movies [godfather, bicentennial man].

Anyway, I don't know why the producers didn't remain faithful to the book or why did Dan Brown agreed not to stick with the original sequence of the book. Even Maxmillan Kohler is not in the book, and he's one of the main characters, mind you. Leonardo Vetra [Vittoria's father] was replaced by some Silvano dude and their Antimatter reasearch is just wrong. Chinita Macri and Gunther Glick's also missing and Cardinal Baggia lived in the end to become the [fictional] next Pope. Also, the movie is recognized as a sequel.

The prospect of enjoying the movie ended after the first 5 minutes of the movie. The plot was just wrong. Leonardo Vetra, firstly, is nowhere to be found. Langdon was in Harvard. Vittoria doing the Antimatter collision in HCL with an audience. Even the assassin was made wrong. The list goes on. The climax part and ending was all wrong too. Since Kohler was nowhere to be found, they made a police take his place. Langdon was not on the Helicopter scene. Mortati was not the one made Pope etc.

The only thing they got right was the first three cardinal killings, their location and stuff. The fourth killing deviated from what happened in the book.

What I did like from the movie is that I have finally a visual element. When reading a book, you can't really quite imagine the locales even when described by the author. I did like that. Also, it's a treat that you get to see one of your favorite books translated into a movie and realize that it sucks and you have to point out what's wrong and whatnot like this post.

Anyway, it's just my 2 cents. I've scoured the net and found that the reviews were fair. Though I bet that they never read the book.

I like this one review though

http://www.atomicpopcorn.net/angels-demons-movie-review/

I don't give a rat's ass on how Martin sang the anthem or how Team Pacquiao needs to be quarantined...

2009-05-07T08:33:00.002+08:00

I say come on! What the hell is wrong with the government and the media? I'm to busy to write something so I'll leave my frustrations with that line.

Oh well...

2009-04-19T05:45:00.002+08:00

So father has left again for Dubai. Nothing new here, it has been like this for the past 22 years. But I know this will end soon as soon as my kid brother finishes his studies. My elder brother and I made plans to shoulder bills and stuff so my father will not go back to working abroad (he's 50+, so he's getting pretty old) but I think there are just some things a father's ego will not allow.

And yeah, my mom and dad discovered Skype, hahaha, so they'll be able to talk now for free. You should have seen the look on their faces as my brother teaches them on how to chat and call. I don't know how, but they have their laptops for so long now but they can't even chat. Oldies... :)

Anyway, I am not that sad because this has always been the scenario since I was a kid. I didn't even go with my mom and brother to drop off father at the airport. I pretended to be asleep when they were waking me up. Well, I have an excuse since I hiked the whole day and they must think I'm pretty beat up. And for one, I don't want to see my mom shed tears again which always happens everytime father goes back to work.

Buendia

2009-04-02T22:59:00.001+08:00

Buendia,
originally uploaded by Carl Allan Vela.

Testing crossposting for Flickr to Blogger. (and hopefully to Multiply and Facebook)

This is a pretty nifty feature. Anyway, this is my first real try at HDR since my first ones were pretty basic, I am starting to learn Photoshop more and more and I am dramatically including it in my workflow.

This shot was taken early this morning when we were out to get our morning Kopiroti and Burger Machine at Buendia. I switched to RAW and took a shot. Since my camera is pretty primitive and has no auto bracketing function, I just took a shot and processed the RAW in photoshop, and set it up for a HDR.

Then did a few tweaks on its curves in PS. Since I am a PS noob, there are some gripes I'd like to mention, first the reds are pretty saturated, I don't know yet how to select parts of the picture to edit, so what happened is edit one, edit all... or something like that.

Anyway, in the end, I was pretty sure I have created a pretty decent HDR.

Law of supply and demand.

2009-03-26T17:19:00.002+08:00

Ok, I was scouring for 35mm f1.8 Nikkor prime for quite a few weeks now. At first the cheapest was at 12,500 at JT's. Then I was pretty sure the price will be stable until few weeks but for this past week, the price added a few percent more than its intended price. Now it is priced at 14,600. This is pretty crappy since everyone's taking advantage of its hype.

Now I'm forced to buy the highly priced item before it inflates more.

That's economics my friends.

3 Gatsu 11

2009-03-10T20:28:00.000+08:00

Nagareru kisetsu no mannaka de
Futo hi no nagasa wo kanjimasu
Sewashiku sugiru hibi no naka ni
Watashi to anata de yume wo egaku

Sangatsu no kaze ni omoi wo nosete
Sakura no tsubomi wa haru e to tsuzukimasu

Afure dasu hikari no tsubu ga
Sukoshi zutsu asa wo atatamemasu
Ookina akubi wo shita ato ni
Sukoshi tereteru anata no yoko de

Arata na sekai no iriguchi ni tachi
Kizuita koto wa hitori ja nai tte koto

Hitomi wo tojireba anata ga
Mabuta no ura ni iru koto de
Dore hodo tsuyoku nareta deshou
Anata ni totte watashi mo sou de aritai

Sunabokori hakobu tsumujikaze
Sentakumono ni karamarimasu ga
Hirumae no sora no shiroi tsuki wa
Nan da ka kirei de mitoremashita

Umaku wa ikanu koto mo aru keredo
Ten wo aogeba sore sae chiisakute

Aoi sora wa rin to sunde
Hitsujigumo wa shizuka ni yureru
Hana saku wo matsu yorokobi wo
Wakachiaeru no de areba sore wa shiawase

Kono saki mo tonari de sotto hohoende

Hitomi wo tojireba anata ga
Mabuta no ura ni iru koto de
Dore hodo tsuyoku nareta deshou
Anata ni totte watashi mo sou de aritai

Nearing my 1000th post.

2009-03-08T09:36:00.002+08:00

Wow! I just realized: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm nearing my thousanth post. So, what does that mean? Nothing. Oh well, I'm just a fan of numbers and dates and things to be remembered.

Speaking of things to be remembered, me and my freeloading friends went out last night to see the Eraserhead's "final set" concert. Well, I doubt it would be their final set since they pretty much raked in huge money. Anyway, my kumpare Rico was in the VIP area. Well, I should be too, but I opted not to get any tickets because gigs are different without my freeloading buddies. I was with them on my first gig (POD tama ba? Di ata ako kasama non?), first summerslam, etc.

I could have spent a few thousand bucks and get to see better view but hey, what's done is done. Last August, we were late and Ely was rushed to the hospital. We heard a few songs while finding a spot to park but when we finally found one the concert was done. This time, we managed to listen to most songs.

It was great - Francis M. tribute (they could have sang the whole song but I guess you can't completely render a song without practice even if you're the eraserheads), MINSAN, Huling El Bimbo etc. The finale was Huling El Bimbo with matching fireworks display... it was great. We were about to go since net leaks says that it was their final song but after a few minutes, Raimund called the members back for an encore.

When Ely said that it's "Three for the road", everybody shouted like little girls in a Backstreet Boys concert. They played three songs, Toyang was played for the last song. Ely went to the audience and handed the mic to one of the fans. What's funny is that I think Ely forgot some lyrics? I can't tell. But hell, it was a blast.

And the best part? We didn't spend money. Well, 25 pesos for the parking fee. Hahah.

MV Doulos: Floating Library

2009-03-04T08:06:00.001+08:00

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has announced that the famed floating library MV Doulos has come back with more books for literature-loving Filipinos.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano led in welcoming the vessel and its crew volunteers when the ship’s advance preparation team met with DOT for its final Manila stop on March 6 to 30.

“We are honored to once again host the legendary ship that brings with it a commitment to knowledge and service to people all over the world. A great display of community tourism and a strong spirit of volunteerism are keeping the MV Doulos afloat,” said Durano.

The MV Doulos, called “our home port in Asia” by former ship captain Ashley Macdonald was supposed to have paid its final visit in Manila in December 2007.

Macdonald acknowledged the vessel has spent much longer time in the Philippines compared to other East Asian countries.

After a series of discussions and considerations with the management, the educational ship decided to extend its time in Asia which has a stronger need for its services rather than going over to other continents.

The MV Doulos has welcomed on board more than 20 million people from over 100 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and many island-nations.

It was in Cebu from Jan. 8 to Feb. 10 and will be in Bacolod starting today until March 3.

While in Cebu, the volunteers tutored 36 hearing-impaired students of Lapu Lapu Central Elementary School. The students visited the ship where they made use of books and other teaching aids.

Prior to the lessons, the kids were taught wood-working, welding, and soap-making at their school.

According to DOT Undersecretaary for Planning and Promotions, Eduardo Jarque Jr.: “We are pleasantly surprised with their return, specially after bidding us a saddening farewell more than a year ago. This is great news to the youth most of all who have been inspired with their visit to the ship, meeting dedicated volunteers and discovering rare books.”

All 330 crew volunteers on the ship received no compensation, choosing to spendtwo years on board with the mission of reaching out to underprivileged communities.

As a non-profit outfit, the MV Doulos relies on funding from private supporters, corporations, community groups, trusts, foundations and lastly from the sale of books and other items on the ship.

The books on sale range from thousands of titles covering subjects, such as Science, Sports, Hobbies, Cookery, Christian Living, Arts, Philosophy, and Children’s Literature, among others.

While most of the books are in English, one can also find books in other languages. The books are supplied by recognized and respected publishers in the UK and USA. The floating Book Fair is open to the general public.

Another highlight of the ship’s program is the “International Night”, a colorful and enjoyable evening of music, cultural dance and song from some of the countries represented by the Doulos crew and staff.

Nahuli.

2009-02-22T17:01:00.002+08:00

Nahuli kami kagabi sa Pasay dahil sa isang violation na ngayon ko lang narinig. Malas lang kami nila Cloz lately pag dating sa driving. Naglagay na lang siya imbes na mahassle. Ang badtrip dito, talagang yung pulis, kinukunsensya kami na maglagay nga. May mga lines pa siyang: "Inaaalala ko lang kasi baka mahassle kayo..." Putsa.

Oh well, ganyan talaga ang sistema dito eh. Ako putsa, if ever na mahuli ako, sa city hall na lang. Basta gawin niyo lang ng tama ang trabaho niyo. Oo, anjan yung maha-hassle nga at mas mahal na babayaran, pero at least, may tama kang ginawa. O sinasabi ko lang to kasi hindi pa ako nahuhuli ulit at nung unang huli ko iba nagbayad? Hehe.

The point is, kaya ganito ang nangyayari sa pilipinas, simpleng batas lang hindi sinusunod. At minsan dinadagdagan pa. Putsa, ngayon lang ako nakarinig ng violation na ganun. Anyway, sige, bahala na si Batman.

Shorts: Little thoughts stuck on mind.

2009-02-20T09:00:00.004+08:00

Si mama pinagbabayad ako ng insurance. Sayang daw kasi 3 taon ko na labag sa loob na binabayaran to. Di ko naman kelangan non, kasi pag nadeads ako ok lang sakin kahit san itambak... fertilizer pa. Di ko pa nga binubuksan yung statement eh, sana naman nakuwa niya yung drift ko na ayaw ko bayaran yun.

Pero napagdecide ko na bayaran na yun, para matigil na sa kakalitanya ang aking ina. Worth my money's worth yun... katahimikan ni mama.

Filtrepreneur Incorporated.

2009-02-18T23:13:00.001+08:00

Finally had the time to make Filtrep's multiply site:

http://filtrepreneurinc.multiply.com/

Check it out!

Understanding (in a car crushed)

2009-02-15T17:49:00.002+08:00

I had a lot of fun last night at the Balloon Festival at Clark. Roadtrips, laughtrips... the works. After a tiring day, though we haven't actually seen real balloons in flight (they only let it hover for a few feet and that's it), it's all worth it.

We we're laughing loud and then something crashed into us. By the impact, we thought it was a car, but it was a small tricy. Pretty big a crash, if it is just a tricy. Anyway, we sorted it out and came to a conclusion that you cannot have so much fun in one day...

Wew! Pics at my flickr, multiply and facebook. From now on, I am ditching friendster. :D

-------------

Just saw my officemate's pics in the festival. They went on the 13th. They actually let the balloons lose! In our case, they just inflated the balloons for 30 minutes and just left it there for 10 minutes before deflating it. Boo! Badtrip! OK lang, at least, it was still fun. But still, it could have been better if they let it fly and let the paragliders tangle into it!

Pwede!

2009-02-12T11:57:00.000+08:00

Bwahahahha... Nasira araw ko... so I might ruin yours as well.

Para sa mga nagtitipid.

2009-02-10T11:11:00.001+08:00

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/09020901nikon35mm1p8.asp

FHM anomaly.

2009-02-08T11:48:00.002+08:00

I was at a magazine stand yesterday and I happen to notice the latest FHM issue. It occurred to me that there was something unusual in the cover. The people was giving me curious looks since I was spending longer time than your usual perv in checking the cover. I told the peculiar item in the cover to the kids behind me and they agreed.

Now, it's time for you to spot it. :D

History in the making.

2009-02-05T14:26:00.003+08:00

I've never been absent unless there's a quake, alien invasion or the like.

But this time, I'll make an announcement: Yours truly is planning to absent on account of I now like the idea of quitting being the good guy. Now that's saying something from a guy like me. Mark your calendar folks, Feb., 6 will be a self-proclaimed holiday!

And this time, I'm not kidding!!

To be updated if ever I change my mind.

The Nifty Use of Cross Posting

2009-02-03T10:31:00.001+08:00

Usapang Business

Start your Dream Food Business with Small Capital but Big Savings and Profits!!!
Why Spend Hundred of Thousands when
you have the OPTIONS?.....
G O O D N E W S !!!
Everyone can avail the LOWEST Franchise Ever-for only
P21,888.00 up to P50,000.00 (one-time franchising fee).
NO ROYALTY FEE deducted on your monthly sales.
NO YEARLY RENEWAL FEE to be collected either.
All earnings will go straight to the investor!
Our BEST CART PACKAGE that will
suit your BUDGET! (ready to operate)

***SILVER CART PACKAGE for only P21,888.00***
OUR BEST SELLER!!!

***2-in-1 PACKAGE for only P38,888.00 (Save P4,888.00)
Combination of 2 of our Food Products***
OUR BEST CHOICE!!!

***3-in-1 PACKAGE for only P50,000.00 (Save P15,664.00)
Combination of 3 of our Food Products***

WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!
***GET YOUR FREEBIES
when you Pay the DOWNPAYMENT of P7,500.00 only!***
- FREE Whitening products (Dream White Glutathione) and other herbal products
- FREE Loading Business (Dealer or Retailer of SMART / GLOBE / SUN)
- FREE Transferrable DANCE WORKSHOP Voucher with the MANOUEVRES.
- FREE Franchisee ID Card
- Accident Insurance Php 50,000.00 w/ Free twice a year medical consultation
and discounts on medical services
- And a lot more...

*Downpayment is non-refundable but is TRANSFERABLE or SALEABLE.*

Offered FOOD CART PRODUCTS :
* PINOY PAO - Siopao (tiny, regular and jumbo) and siomai (pork, shrimp and sharksfin)
* JACK'S EATABLES - Fried bites (Fishballs, Squid balls, Chicken balls,kikiam)
* BURGEROO - Buy 1 Take 1 Burger!
* PINOY PATATAS PRIES - French fries regular and flavored (cheese,barbecue,sour&cream)
* PIZZA PINOY - Pizza (ham & cheese,hawaiian,pepperoni,langonisa,carne norte,tuna anghang,pizza pinoy espesay,pizza sandwich)
* RED BOWL - Rice Toppings (java rice w/ egg & mixed veg.,a choice of toppings from siomai,corned beef,tocino,sweet ham,beef teriyaki (best seller), beef & mushroom etc!!
* HAPPY WAFFLE - variety of WaffleS..
* EMPEROR SIOMAI - Siomai
* O'NOODLES - Hong Kong Style Stir Fry Noodles
* MARCIANA'S BIBINGKA - Freshly Baked Bibingka
* I LOVE SYSIG! - Delicious, Fresh and hot sisig (chicken and pork sisig to go!)
So…

Why do we have to spend our hard-earned money like P100k, P150k, P200k, P250k for a single product franchise? If you can avail it here for as low as P21,888k but of THE SAME QUALITY???
Plus…

If you still don’t have enough funds or savings to start your franchising business but still wants to start a business and earn extra money, you can start one for only… P 2,500 !!!
(Yes, it’s true!!!)
For more information, just contact me:

Naruto, Bleach, Ippo at One Piece.

2009-01-30T22:09:00.002+08:00

Lakas na ni Naruto amps, parang DBZ na. Tapos yung bleach nakakasawa na, lagi na lang laban ng kung sino sinong characters. One piece na lang at Ippo ang maganda!

Geh, tulog na ako.

Impulse buy bites ass.

2009-01-30T09:34:00.003+08:00

I used up my GC from my 1 year perfect attendance award. The plan was to score a glass for my camera which would be deducted by a fair amount since I can use the GC in tandem with cash or CC. But since G4 only has a Canon shop (and I don't know any malls selling lenses besides VMall, which is not an Ayala Mall so it's out of the picture), I ended up buying a crumpler and a headset (I even threw out a hundred bucks because the GC was all used up and I had to buy a converter for the headset).

Ok, I thought that I don't have to buy new shoes and my 5 year old sneakers is still up to job... (dry job, that is, since they are flooded wet on rainy days)... so it's a fair purchase. No regrets there. BUT...

Then I was scouring the net this morning, which was my daily habit before actually doing some office work, then I found out that there is a shop at GB5 selling Nikon and other 3rd party lenses. I just mumbled 'what the hell!?' to myself and browsed the site and, yeah, they sell Lenses with terms of payment and I can deduct the price using my nifty, newly aqcuired, gone on it's first day on my hands Gift Cheque... but alas, the Fates aren't on my side... And yeah, impulse buying really bites the ass.

Check this out:

http://www.pinoyphotography.org/forum/index.php?topic=40267.0

One year perfect attendance award.

2009-01-28T16:54:00.002+08:00

Every quarter, there is a perfect attendance award. Yours truly is a constant perfect award winner for a year now (not counting last year since I accidentally had an undertime... which sucks since the price was an iPod). Well, the iPod last year opened a lot of eyes and so the people here at RD thrived hard to get that one year perfect attendace. In effect, the perfect attendance awardees number boomed up and the price is now only a gift certificate... well, not bad considering it's a giveaway, but still... an iPod would be much, much better.

Oh well, I will surely use my Sick Leaves from now on (Starting tomorrow!). Oh yeah, the Vacation Leaves? They are taxable if you have 10 or more left. I had 13 left so that makes 3 taxable leaves. I don't know the inner workings of how unused leaves should be handled, but oh well...

Ok, I'll go use up this Gift Certificate.

3000+ emails to be deleted.

2009-01-27T12:02:00.002+08:00

Wow, I have to delete 3000 + mails from my old yahoo account since I need it for a new flickr account. My everyday mail (asagiri_akira@yahoo.com) is already registered but I don't want to delete that so I chose to clean up my old email (carlallanvela@yahoo.com) and register it.

Anyway, got to go... 2000+ to go.

Walang iPOD!

2009-01-26T15:42:00.002+08:00

Pag 1 year perfect attendance dito sa RD, may iPOD! Sayang kasi last year naundertime ako accidentally, so di na ako pwede. Ngayon mukhang wala ng iPOD sa mga 1 year perfect attendance... sayang! Magaabsent agad ako kinabukasan!

Reposted: Raket nila Bryan at Anna Mae.

2009-01-21T11:09:00.001+08:00

Start your Dream Food Business with

Small Capital but Big Savings and Profits!!!

Why Spend Hundred of Thousands when

you have the OPTIONS.....

G O O D N E W S !!!

Everyone can avail the LOWEST Franchise Ever-for only

P21,888.00 up to P50,000.00 (one-time franchising fee).

NO ROYALTY FEE deducted on your monthly sales.

NO YEARLY RENEWAL FEE to be collected either.

All earnings will go straight to the investor!

Our BEST CART PACKAGE that will

suit your BUDGET! (ready to operate)

SILVER CART PACKAGE for only P21,888.00

OUR BEST SELLER!!!

2-in-1 PACKAGE for only P38,888.00 (Save P4,888.00)

Combination of 2 of our Food Products

OUR BEST CHOICE!!!

3-in-1 PACKAGE for only P50,000.00 (Save P15,664.00)

Combination of 3 of our Food Products

WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!

GET YOUR FREEBIES

when you Pay the DOWNPAYMENT of P7,500.00 only!

- FREE Whitening products (Dream White Glutathione) and other herbal products

- FREE Loading Business (Dealer or Retailer of SMART GLOBE SUN)

- FREE Transferrable DANCE WORKSHOP Voucher with the MANOUEVRES.

- FREE Franchisee ID Card

- Accident Insurance Php 50,000.00 w Free twice a year medical consultation

and discounts on medical services

- And a lot more...

Downpayment is non-refundable but is TRANSFERABLE or SALEABLE.

Offered FOOD CART PRODUCTS

PINOY PAO - Siopao (tiny, regular and jumbo) and siomai (pork, shrimp and sharksfin)

JACK'S EATABLES - Fried bites (Fishballs, Squid balls, Chicken balls,kikiam)

BURGEROO - Buy 1 Take 1 Burger!

PINOY PATATAS PRIES - French fries regular and flavored (cheese,barbecue,sour&cream)

PIZZA PINOY - Pizza (ham & cheese,hawaiian,pepperoni,langonisa,carne norte,tuna anghang,pizza pinoy espesay,pizza sandwich)

RED BOWL - Rice Toppings (java rice w egg & mixed veg.,a choice of toppings from siomai,corned beef,tocino,sweet ham,beef teriyaki (best seller), beef & mushroom etc!!

HAPPY WAFFLE - variety of WaffleS..

EMPEROR SIOMAI - Siomai

O'NOODLES - Hong Kong Style Stir Fry Noodles

MARCIANA'S BIBINGKA - Freshly Baked Bibingka

I LOVE SYSIG! - Delicious, Fresh and hot sisig (chicken and pork sisig to go!)

So…

Why do we have to spend our hard-earned money like P100k, P150k, P200k, P250k for a single product franchise If you can avail it here for as low as P21,888k but of THE SAME QUALITY

Plus…

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May tao talagang malas.

2009-01-21T09:06:00.002+08:00

Amp, nasiraan nanaman kami ng shuttle kanina. At yung nasiraan eh yung parehong driver na nabanggit ko dito months ago - yung natamaan ng wrench sa ulo at muntikan nang mapisa ng FX... yun. Ngayon naman, nasiraan kami sa gitna ng EDSA amp. Ayun, medyo nalate ako ng 30 minutes dahil sa kanya.

Ang malabo pa dun eh nag shu-shuffle sila ng driver. So hindi ito yung parehong FX na dina-drive niya. Malas lang talaga siya. Kawawa naman.

I saw the sign nahaha...

2009-01-18T17:08:00.000+08:00

Medyo napapadalas gastos ko amps. Kagabi muntik nanaman ako mapaimpulse buy. Medyo mabigat yung bibilihin ko. Buti na lang pagswipe nung card nareject siya. 2x na nareject yung card na yun sa same shop na yun. Pero nung nagpurchase ako sa filbars tinanggap.

Sign yun eh. Wag gumastos ng malaki. Paglabas ko ng Pixel Pro, pucha, pinagpapawisan ako eh. Parang relieved na ewan ang pakiramdam. Hehe, impulse buy... layuan mo ako.

Sige tulog na ako maaga nanaman ako bukas.

First Lightroom edit

2009-01-18T15:34:00.000+08:00

Ok, since I have to wait for like another hour before my download of latest big bang theory episode (and some exodus of the horde stuff... oops, tropa inside joke.) I decided on playing with my brother's lightroom.

Pretty tricky to learn by yourself, so I tried reading some online tutorials and got to tweaking some Photo I took from Baguio from weeks ago. And after an hour and a half it's done. It's pretty rough around the edges since I have zero background on Photoshop and other image editing tools but hey, it came out pretty cool... well, at least for me.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1457652&id=568596937&ref=mf

Songsmith

2009-01-18T08:31:00.000+08:00

Songsmith - an amazingly cool Music composition tool from Microsoft. Basically, you can create music from scratch with it with the genre of your choice (Rock, Jazz, RnB etc). According to what I've read, you can change the music to match your mood - joyful, sad, angry etc. Think Parrapa the rapper with more options, more possibilities.

Ok, from a technical view of things, this is really cool. And yeah, watch the vids.

The actual silly ad and tech demo:

OPM Galore.

2009-01-15T14:18:00.002+08:00

directone.blogspot.com. It has links to direct download sites which has rare OPM gems. check it out!

One Piece.

2009-01-08T09:06:00.002+08:00

I got my eyes all puffy and red when I had a One Piece manga marathon at onemanga since the One Piece Debede set I bought is pretty messed up - it has 6 discs (up to One Piece season 7 - the filler arc after Eneru saga), but discs 5 and 6 has it's episodes messed up and it's subs does not make any sense which brought me to the conclusion that you really get what you pay for.

So I decided to scour the net for torrents but since OP early episodes are dated years ago, they are pretty scarce. I did some research but to no avail. I tried direct download sites but to no avail too. I asked fellow OP freaks but they said that they have no plans on rewatching them and they are contented with the Manga. I tried rewatching other stuff to get my mind off OP but in the end, I just wanted to watch the damn thing.

It was so unlike food cravings when you can't get what you want and you start stuffing your face with other food and when you're not hungry anymore, you'll totally forget the food you're craving. Anyway, in the end, I found this site that houses not only OP but other old animes as well (Yaiba anyone!?). It has varied formats such as AVI, MPEG and RMVD (which is a total score since it's size is minimal which makes it perfect for those sneaky office hours download). I tried looking for a catch, since everything has a catch and I found none... you don't even have to register. The subs are great and everything.

The site is: http://www.animea.net

Check it out!

Happy New Year to All!

2008-12-31T05:24:00.000+08:00

Now let me entertain you with this wonderful new year picture.

5 star accident

Baguio... murang taxi... da best.

2008-12-30T03:16:00.000+08:00

If you've read the post below, then good, you'll string the sense of that one and this one together.

Baguio has eluded me these past 23 years. Member of my family went there number of times already but I haven't... sigh. Anyway, getting there is no problem - book a ticket, get on the bus and after 5 hours you'll be at Baguio. 5 hours is a walk in the park compared to 14 hours of Bus to Bicol... I just slept the whole time. Luckily, I got the 11 PM trip and got there around 4 AM-ish.

Baguio is small and easily accessible (and taxi drivers are honest), but I guess there are really lots of tourist at this time of year. It's so crowded but not irritatingly crowded like Manila because it's not so bad being in a crowded place when it's cold. So cold that in fact, when I got back to Manila at 3AM, Manila feels like a Sunny morning. I think I walked for several hours but felt nowhere near tired because the air is cool and it's not hot.

Anyway, after 2 days of exploring Baguio and feeling like I've seen all there is to see, I got back. I'll post pictures after.

Happy Holidays... as Cloz like to put it.

2008-12-25T18:15:00.000+08:00

I woke up at 4:00 AM expecting to eat good food but, alas, all I found was some puto and polvoron. Well, since me and my older brother began earning money for our own, I noticed that things don't go our way. I mean, I expect to get gifts, not give them. Especially from my uncle nextdoor who gives some bucks at this time of the year. I also expect to eat food that's not in the usual menu of our helper... but since we now earn money, I guess we should be the one to provide - to hell with that.

Anyway, what I did was grabbed a few putos and ate it outside. I know it will be impossible to go back to sleep so I just passed the time outside, reading Christmas texts for those persons who forwards them if their unlimited text cover my number. Aside from reading, I happen to notice that our Christmas lights has 3 lighting modes on it: The alternate kutitap mode, the steady light mode and the random blinking light mode. And I successfully managed to count all the carols it makes. Yey, what a way to start this day.

A few moments later, I got back to my room and tried to finish up Matrix Reloaded... and I just realized that it is SO coincedentally like Christianity. I even managed to search it up in the net and found out that there are even cults for Matrix aptly called Matrixism. Just wow. To give a heads up to those who haven't watched the Matrix, the movie is about a hacker Thomas Andersen who was "freed" from the Matrix - a world made by the machine that pacifies all the humans connected to it while the machines harvest them periodically. This happened because the humans bombed the atmosphere because they believed that the machines get their energy from the sun... well, apparently, they can get that on humans as well.

The guy who freed up Neo (Thomas' hacker name) was Morpheus, the captain of the ship Nebuchadnezzar. The freed guys take up shelter at Zion which is situated in Earth's core where there is heat where humans get energy. Neo is tagged as the One, who is destined to liberate humans from the Machines - now, if it doesn't sound like some guy we know...

Ok, back to my day. After the movie, I went to the gym. After gym, I went home and popped Face/Off starred by Travolta and Cage. That movie never fails to wow me, though I am so sick of John Woo's dove/slow mo effects which was even present in the Woo game, Stranglehold. Well, after watching that I watched Hostel, that Tarantino boring scary movie which turned out not to be scary at all but just disgusting... there was a scene there where this guy cuts off a girl's eye from her burned face... and after cutting yellow ooze flowed out of it.... puta, babuy!

Well, there was an incident moments ago that triggered me to write this post. Apparently, there was a planned family reunion. This was planned weeks ago and it'll be held in Baguio. And since it will be my first time going there, I was pretty eager. Uncle together with his son, my niece and my younger brother went there first to meet up with my other relatives. Lols, tatagalugin ko na lang: SO andun na nga sila, tapos kanina umuwi yung pinsan kong isa, kasi nga daw kukunin yung damit nung kapatid ko kasi nga nagplano pala sila pumunta ng Bolinao. Tapos pinagiimpake na ako. Kaya hinanda ko na gamit ko, fins ko, camera ko... lahat lahat na. Eh eto namang kapatid ko hindi daw makabili kasi sarado mga tindahan ng brip... tas nahihiya yata manghiram ng brip sa iba... lols, kahit ako eh. Ayun nga, pinapapapunta kami dun... taena, di ko na matatapos to... so, long story short, nakakapraning talaga yung pinsan ko para lagariin yung Bulacan - LP para lang sa bag ng utol ko... tapos pabago bago din isip niya kung sasama ba siya o hindi. Eto namang nanay ko ang plano niya lang talaga eh Baguio, pabago bago din ng isip....

In the end, wala pa kaming definite na plano. Nauna na yung pinsan ko para dalahin yung bag ng kapatid ko at exactly this time: 11:12 PM (3 hours biyahe papunta Bulacan). Tapos plano pa nya yata umuwi ulit... wow, iba talaga ang tigas ng ulo ni kuya. Balak pa niya ako papuntahin dun kasi nga daw sasama daw ako Bolinao. Sabi ko, mabubuhay naman yung kapatid ko ng walang brief kaya kahit bukas na siya bumalik ng Bulacan... eh mapilit talaga. Si mama naiirita nanaman hahaha. Napost ko ata dito yung pinagpilitan niya tahiin yung sarili niya nung naaksidente siya? Wow talaga.

Anyway, wala siguro makagets nung last paragraph ko bukod dun sa mga pinagkwentuhan ko niyan... so matutulog na nga ako.

Happy holidays nalang sainyo! Peace on EARTH!

Takipsilim... new development pictures.

2008-12-25T04:35:00.002+08:00

Is this cool or what? It's really Philippinized. What an ingenious way of giving it the Pinoy taste. Atis amputa. Ano ba English ng atis? Does it even grow on other parts of the world? Maybe that's why they chose the Atis... Oh well, when I read the book, I thought the apple on the Pale hands signifies that there's some "forbidden" love going on... but atis?

GO PINOY! I really want to see this. :D

Takipsilim... lols.

2008-12-24T16:01:00.002+08:00

Got this from an officemate (shameless plug: http://jmgallaza.blogspot.com/) and she believes its true. Kulet nito nyahaha. Go Pinoy!

Rayver Cruz as Edward Cullen

Shaina Magdayao as Isabella Swan
Valeen Montenegro as Alice Cullen
Gabby Concepcion as Dr. Carlisle Cullen
Luis Manzano as Emmett Cullen
Al Tantay as Charlie Swan
Yayo Aguila as Renee Dwyer
Fred Payawan as Jacob Black
Carlos Agassi as James
Chin Chin Gutierrez as Esme Cullen
Karylle as Rosalie Hale
Joross Gamboa as Jasper Hale
Jessy Mendiola as Jessica Stanley
Empress Schuck as Angela Weber
Brad Murdoch as Laurent
Nikki Bacolod as Victoria
Aaron Villaflor as Mike Newton

12 Gays of Christmas... from Mopas ang numero unong bading ng Piety.

2008-12-24T08:25:00.001+08:00

dhil pasko n, manga2roling dn ako! testi sna ito eh kso nde kasya kya d2 n lng s bulletin! hahaha...

mki-singing bee n dn kaio! bonggang-bonggang bakla version ng 12 days of xmas!

12 GAYS OF KRISMAS

yung first gay nung krismas, giniblab sa lola mo, jisang island boi na gwapo

so yung second gay nung krismas, binigay sa lola mo, dalawang lip shimmer

at jisang island boi na gwapo

at yung terd gay nung krismas, nilibre'ng lola mo, tatlong itlog ng pugo

dalawang lip shimmer

at jisang island boi na gwapo (ang duduki sa parola!!! GO!)

yung fort gay nung krismas, ni-retohan lola mo, apat na bagito

trilogy ng pugo (cheappanggang bakla!!!)

dalawang lip shimmer

at jisang island boi na gwapo

eh yung pip gay nung krismas, may nag show sa lola mo, payb dancing queens!!!

kyopat na bagetz (bantay bata itu!)

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

yung pang-sikst gay nung krismas, binigay sa lola mo, six bra na strapless

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz (hello, tina monson palma ...)

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

at yung sebent gay nung krismas, mi-nake over lola mo, gandang ricky reyes

free bra na strapless

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz

toknene (sarap ... nung bagetz!!!)

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

eh yung eighth gay nung krismas, na-payb six ang lola mo, 8 percent na tubo

win si mama ricky (ang ganda!!!)

free bra na strapless

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

yung pang-siyam na gay nung krismas nagsanla sa lola mo, siyam na chepeka

8 percent ang tubo

win si mama ricky

free bra na strapless (para san yan???)

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

en yung tent gay nung krismas, na-windang ang lola mo, sampung bi na curious

siyam na chepeka (punyetang chepeka yan!!!)

8 percent ang tubo

win si mama ricky

free bra na strapless

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

gift nung elebent gay nung krismas, trinangkasong lola mo, sa onseng masahista

ten bi na curious

siyam na chepeka (lagot ka kay kolokoy!! HALA!!!)

8 percent ang tubo

win si mama ricky

free bra na strapless (kala mo naman may suso!!!)

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

at jisang island boi na gwapo

sa pan-doseng gay nung krismas, na-inggit ang lola mo, gandang retokada

onseng masahista

ten bi na curious (bi na nga curious pa din???)

siyam na chepeka

8 percent ang tubo

win si mama ricky

free bra na strapless

payb dancing queens!!!

chumuva ng bagetz

toknene

dalawang lip gloss

(bagalan, finale na to ...) at jisang island boi na gwapo!!!

namamakla po!!!!

On Christmas Parties, Church hopping and getting arrested.

2008-12-14T04:06:00.000+08:00

Last Friday was Rendition Digital's annual Christmas Party and it was held at Friday's Glorietta. Great food, great sounds and it dawned on me that it's already my third Christmas Party at RDI!! Anyway, getting-old-feeling aside, it's all good - the only problem is that... I didn't win anything. I was hoping for the TV or the personal ref... but oh well, there are things that aren't meant for you!

Anyway, after the Party, Joane suggested that we go to Videoke. I tried to object since I have a fully booked schedule the next day - it's Joy's daughter's baptism, and Cyril's wedding - but decided against it. We were at Platinum until 4AM and I was watching the time because the baptism is at 11. I got home at 5 and slept... I woke up at 8.

With 3 hours to go, I wanted some more sleep - but I know it's impossible for me to sleep again. So I prepared. I planned to get some coffee but my mom asked for the car keys to get the car washed up because they just got home from the Wet Market and the car reeks of fish. I was thinking that my day will be ruined - again - by my mom. So I took an especially long bath since I know the car won't be back in 45 minutes. She's not yet around when I'm finished so I got irritated.

When she got home, she didn't have the car with her, and I had a temper tantrum. Hehe. Anyway, after all the commotion, we took the tricycle to the Carwash and got the car, still incompletely cleaned and took off. I grabbed my morning coffee, loaded some gas and went to Malate Church. I was the earliest among my friends so I just relaxed a little bit. The baptism is for an hour and after that we drove to Robinson's Ermita for my most awaited part of the baptism - Lunch.

After hanging out with college friends, I headed off to meet my officemates. I got to Ortigas within the hour and went to Marikina. Since we didn't know the way, and the map is pretty vague, we followed Fely's "guidance" which got us lost. The other guys are already at the wedding and I was afraid I'd miss this once since it's been years when I viewed a wedding and it was when I was a kid and got the part of the Ring bearer. Hehe.

After a few hours and a sored left clutch foot, we got the the wedding which was already done. The newlyweds are already on their way out of the Church. So we went for the most important part of the wedding - Reception.

The food was great and we got to see Cyril cry. Nyahaha... Jay and Marc took a lot of picture of that moment by their robotic top end cameras. Unfortunately, I also got picked for the Bachelor/Bachelorette game - you know, the garter thing game. The game - The bachelorettes were lined up and the bride will throw flowers and the person who failed to get one will be the unlucky girl who will get her legs touched by a stranger. The girl who won was not my type (or anybody's type for that matter) so the guys did their best to blow the balloons (which was given by the groom - the smallest balloon - will get their hands dirty). There were a few balloons popped (for the extreme wish of getting themselves safe) so in the end, Cyril picked the unlucky bastard. Fortunately, it wasn't me.

Anyway, after eating and well wishing, we finally headed home for my much awaited SLEEP. This time around, we followed the map... which got me pulled over by cops for the first time. I've been driving since HS and it's my first time to get caught... Anyway, since I am not the bribing kind, I gave that cop my license and waited for my ticket. I know it's Christmas time and they cops are "working" double time. I got to see quite a few pulled-over guys these past few days and I know what the cops are up to.

Fortunately, Fely's mom is working on the QC city hall and she can get my License and she shouldered the expense since it's her fault! Haha. Joke. :D Ok, so I gave her the ticket and drove (without ticket that will serve my temporary license) to EDSA. We got to EDSA, dropped Fely off and headed to Makati so I can drop Agnes and Ronan off. I am at panic time since I lost my license and I had no identification and we got a wrong turn in EDSA and instead of getting caught for swerving, I took the SHAW route. On Shang, I thought a cop waved me over because I THINK I beat the read light. Instead of stopping, I pushed the pedal and went ahead... or was I just paranoid? Then when I looked behind me there were flashing lights which I thought from the cops, a wave of relief washed over me when I realized it was just a car.

When we were again EDSA bound, Ronan told me that he also saw the cop waving me over. Did he catch my panic stricken expressions or did he felt my driving is a little bit off since I am gearing up/down wrong, or my speed is pretty slow? We got to Buendia in one piece and finally I am cooling down. I dropped them off safely and I got my groove back and I was, once again, driving like a maniac. I finally got home unscathed.

I slept and wow, it was an eventful day.

Shorts: Little thoughts stuck on mind.

2008-12-10T12:59:00.005+08:00

Ok, it's 1:02 PM and I'm pretty bored. I can't work because the feeling of The Weekend is looming on the Horizon. And weekend only means one thing - REST. I need it - lots of it like air, water, food...

Ok, I got nothing coherent to write...

So let me entertain you with the boobs I got for my birthday...

and a picture of myself stuffing food on my face.

Happy 23rd.

2008-12-09T08:15:00.002+08:00

When I woke up, my phone was flooded with texts wishing me happy birthday. Then soon afterwards, my father in DXB called me and it really made my day (though the conversation is 30% about my birthday and the rest about helping my mom).

It's nice to know that once in a while people still remembers you even though your too much of an asshole. Haha. Kidding aside, it was really nice - waking up into a new world of possibilities. I'm still young, but not that young. I can hold my own yet I still need some guidance. You know, like that Britney Spears song - I'm not a girl, not yet a woman... lols. It's like Paradox personified if you will.

Anyway, thanks to all the people who greeted me and wished to greet me but decided against it for some reason. I promise I'll get back to you as soon as I get to the nearest ministop and buy some load. How I wish I can get all my friends from my various tropa together once again (like 2006) but schedules pretty hectic nowadays. I promise I'll make it up to you!

Thanks! :)

And finally, this song seemed finally appropriate:

"23"

I felt for sure last night

That once we said goodbye

No one else will know these lonely dreams

No one else will know that part of me

I'm still driving away

And I'm sorry every day

I won't always love these selfish things

I won't always live...

Not stopping...

It was my turn to decide

I knew this was our time

No one else will have me like you do

No one else will have me, only you

You'll sit alone forever

If you wait for the right time

What are you hoping for?

I'm here I'm now I'm ready

Holding on tight

Don't give away the end

The one thing that stays mine

Amazing still it seems

I'll be 23

I won't always love what I'll never have

I won't always live in my regrets

You'll sit alone forever

If you wait for the right time

What are you hoping for?

I'm here I'm now I'm ready

Holding on tight

Don't give away the end

The one thing that stays mine

You'll sit alone forever

If you wait for the right time

What are you hoping for?

I'm here I'm now I'm ready

Holding on tight

Don't give away the end

The one thing that stays mine...

Holiday - walang ginawa kundi tumunganga.

2008-12-01T18:31:00.000+08:00

Ok, I was supposed to post this at 11PM-ish last night but since our SmartBRO's connection's

pretty figety for the last few days, I can't really use the net for 5 minutes without it being cut. That's

too bad since I am the one forced to pay this net that I rarely use. And too bad since I cannot finish

downloading Dexter.

Anyway, let me tell you about my day yesterday - it's a Holiday... I really can't remember what Holiday

it is, since I really don't keep track of those and I am not good with dates. Anyway, I finally got my

much deserved alone time and rest! I really can't express how I long for times like these. No ones bugging

me to come out and play. Well, I wanted to sleep the whole day, maybe pop in a couple of movies later or something.

But since I know it's impossible for me to sleep for more than 6 hours, I woke up at 5:30 AM sharp. And I know,

even if I try, I cannot fall back to sleep again.

So, I tried to watch the latest ep of Big Bang Theory to no avail since my mind's pretty distorted without

coffee at this particular part of the day. So I went down to grab some food... which I know is futile since

our helper will still be down and out because I know she spent the whole night talking to his Boyfriend the whole

night under my mom's nosey nose. Though I wanted to have this little holiday, I know I will be bored come noon,

since I am not really a fan of holidays and staying home.

Ok, so I went upstairs and tried to grab some sleep. Unbelivably, I fell asleep and woke up at around 8-ish?

I have no idea what time is it but Eugene is on TV and wow, I felt particularly weird since I still enjoy

Eugene even though I watched the episode for like, 5 times already. At that time, breakfast is served so

I ate and finished the show and went back to my room to - well, just sit around and do nothing. I opened

my DVD binder to find out that I am running out of unwatched movie to watch so I decided to go DVD hunting.

Too bad the car is nowhere to be found so I took the Tricycle to RFC and then I decided not to buy

DVDs but instead go to Starmall to look of new "ahem-ited" 360 games. I grabbed three - MK vs DC, RA3, and

Left 4 Dead which I replaced with Guitar Hero since I didn't like the feel of it, then I replaced GH with

Mirror's Edge since I can't play GH without it's peripherals unlike it's PS2 counterpart... Well, I can

play it with the headset and play with vocals but, hey, I am no singer... Anyway, I lost count on how

many times I went back and forth from home to Starmall and since the car with free gas from my mom is not

there, I think I spent 100 bucks on commuting.

Ok, I played the MKVSDC and found it weird, unsettling and semi-entertaining. After a quarter of an hour, I tried

to read this new Jeff Lindsay book I bought last saturday but I can't digest the words properly. So I decided

that today, I'll give my head rest and do some mindless stuff like covering my uncovered books, rearrange my

disarranged drawers, and make the internet work. I tried calling the Smart Hotline but I decided against it since

they'll just tell me that 'sir, we're doing the best we can...' and I still have to wait.

The highlight of my day was... well, none... which is what I am thankful for since for the first time in weeks...

an unventful day came. With nothing but mindless backandforth commuting and sitting without doing nothing. Ah, this

is the life.

I was kidnapped again by the AT-14 girls.

2008-11-29T19:03:00.000+08:00

I went home almost pissed-drunk this morning because we staged a despedida party for Olga and Genesis (Hi guys) because they were leaving our midst for better careers overseas. They were touched... or is it, I really can't tell. Anyway, we ransacked their apartment, overturned the chairs and tables, scratched the paint with our nails and destroyed their peaceful life.

I woke up at 1PM and watched Lost in Translation (Murray) and found out that Trachelle (one of my closest friends in College) texted me at 6AM saying that she and the rest of the AT-14 girls were going to Tagaytay just to hang out. I must have checked the message earlier when I was half asleep because my phone has not promted that message when I checked it at 1PM. I was pretty hesitant to go because I wanted to sleep the whole afternoon away... but since there's no work on Monday and it's been ages since I last saw them, I went.

It was fun. I was the only guy again since everyone Trachelle invited must have been busy or something. Anyway, we just ate at a resto overlooking the Taal volcano and hung out like the good old days. Of course, laughtrip is the order of the day and it's really fun seeing those faces once again (which I grew tired of when I was in College since I see them almost everyday).

After few hours of catching up and laughing, we went home. I missed them. Oh well, we'll see each other this Dec 13 because it's Joy's daughter baptism and I am a ninong. Akeisha is my second one. Yey. But, alas, I'd leave them soon afterwards because I have to go to Cyril's wedding. Talk about Church-hopping.

All in all, this day is good and a worthy diversion from the monotony of life. :D

All in a day's work.

2008-11-22T01:12:00.000+08:00

I was totally screwed yesterday when I took a longer break than usual. Bosses were furious and my phone working non-stop (I didn't bring my phone with me so I was completely oblivious). The boss called me once, but there were numerous texts from my teammates telling me to come back already, wherever the hell pithole I am in. The time really just slipped off my mind (and I was waiting for my build to be finished).

When I got back, I can feel the electricity in the atmosphere. I can feel the awkwardness around.

My boss confronted me and I've read mails which tells the bosses were disappointed and stuff. What a disaster. I just did what I can to remedy the problems.

Anyway, the problem was halfway fixed when the people on Minsk came in. They had a share of mistakes too so that didn't make the problem solely my responsibility. At 3, there were pizzas all around. I didn't grab one since I am kept on a short leash, so to say. But my Irish boss grabbed a whole box and brought it on our cubicle. Na-tats kami. Hehe.

I stayed at the office for more than 12 hours. I did't leave until everything is OK. A Minsk dude told me that I should go home already and he asked the superiors if he can let the Manila dudes to go home since it's already late in PH. To tie the loose ends, I told him that I won't go home until it's clean. Eventually, there was another error in the build that's not related to our error in Manila. I waited for another build to finish (which takes around an hour and a half) just to make sure.

Inevitably, seems like there's no way I can fix this (or wait for another hour or so). So I packed my things and went home.

XBanned Live

2008-11-15T04:40:00.000+08:00

My account was suddenly banned from XBL. That's too bad. Oh well I saw this coming.

Thanks Micro$oft.

Youtube surfing.

2008-11-13T17:55:00.000+08:00

I was youtube surfing quarter an hour ago and I chanced upon this little video that is just plain brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

Reminds me of that video by Jamiraq-cantspellhisname.

----

Hehe, ang galing, I was checking my mail and Cloz posted in his friendster blog the exact same thing. :D Anyway, since I am using this space already (and I already saw Cloz posted it), I'll also include this video from SKSK: My darkest hour... no not the Megadeth song... if I remember correctly, it was In my darkest hour? Basta, eto na yun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOrsE9oRhaU

We always wanted to try that when me and the guys are on a roadtrip, but then again, moving around that much can proove too disorienting.

----

Ok, I got to catch some sleep.

Malas ni manong.

2008-11-12T16:26:00.000+08:00

This morning, I was not as early as usual because I did some other things before I went out for work. So I was pretty lucky that there were a few shuttles left at RFC. I did the math and I'd be at office at 8 or 8:30-ish. Which was really my plan since today is my mom's birthday and I don't want to miss the foodtrip.

Unfortunately, when we were at Coastal road, the shuttle's left side tire at the back exloded - not just punctured, giving out a little hiss at the process, but boom-exploded. I was pretty oblvious at first since I was trying to catch some sleep and I had my earphones plugged to my ears. Then I felt a violent wiggle and the people were in panic. Too bad I missed the whole panic process, because when I opened my eyes to get what's happening, we were already at the safe grassy lane. Seriously, I was pretty scared myself to see the panic on people's faces.

Anyway, the driver asked us to get out of the shuttle for a few minutes while he replace the tire. The tire was cut. Like I said, it wasn't a puncture but it was cut lengthwise. I watched the driver replace the tire. Because he was rushing, the metal thing that is used to take the car up cut his face and he was soaked in blood in few seconds. He disregarded the cut though the ladies were begging him to do something to it. He was rushing things up so the metal thing slipped out of its grip and the vehicle's body almost crushed his hands. This happened at least three times. Then there was a knowledgable guy who taught the driver where he should put the metal thing and finally, he was able to replace the tire.

Well, everyone thought that we were finally Ayala-bound once again, but when the driver took out the metal support thing, we all saw that the replacement tire was flat too. The driver apologetically gave our money back and hailed a bus. I got to office at almost 10. Yeah, too bad.

Wolfgang in 2008.

2008-11-06T16:21:00.000+08:00

http://www.odysseylive.net/miggy/blog/780/

Waw.

Shorts: Little thoughts stuck on mind.

2008-11-01T02:27:00.000+08:00

It's cold and it's raining and it seems like it's mocking me. I was pulled out of my sleeping trance by trains of thoughts that I never should entertain. It has been eating me lately. Consuming me entirely. Though the facade that I put up is pretty convincing, it will never ever fool me. Lying to yourself is worse enough but the again, at least, you feel you are alive.

I cannot contemplate, fathom even why I am feeling this. I drown these thoughts by reading a book I've read, like, for the 6th time. But after I dog-ear the last page, after my mind cannot process anymore, after it's numb for reading to much, my thoughts will come back to the things that haunt me even in my sleep.

Being alive doesn't necessarily mean that one should like it. One might prefer not waking up at all just to rid of all these unecessary things. This cold morning, I will drown myself with anguish with the thoughts that I try to block. I will try to make it consume me until the thoughts hopefully dissolve. Is that possible? I've been trying for the longest time to make it bubble down, but still, it's like a faithful shadow that haunts me to my very dreams.

It doesn't matter. Some things will never ever change, even though how much you try not to think about it. Thinking about it more makes it annoyingly comeback. Thinking about it less, however, is not even remotely possible.

Though I'm pretty sure no one can understand me, but at least, finally, I poured something out here. These thoughts will most likely die if I do die with it, which is the farthest thing on my plans right now. So until then, I'll make it my second shadow and feel the torment it's giving me full blast.

Team Building-buildingan.

2008-10-25T16:30:00.000+08:00

Nag Antipolo kami ngayon para sa team building na napurnada nang minsan. Walang mga boss eh at ang onti lang ng nagpunta. Naglongcut pa kami papuntang Loreland, Antipolo (kasi mali ata yung map na nabigay samin) at nagkaligaw-ligaw pa yung sumusunod sa akin na convoy. Ramdam mo yung nagmurang gas eh. Kahit onti non, ang sulit. Hindi na ganon kasakit sa bulsa.

Ayun, pagdating namin don, di na nasunod yung activity na pinrepare para sa teambuilding. Nagbasketball, swimming tapos nag videoke na lang kami. Tapos puro kain. Kinain namin pang 24 na tao kasi sayang eh luto na, tapos dose lang kami nagpunta. Mamaya-maya kakain eh. Medyo bitin nga lang kasi onting oras lang, pero ok lang, enjoy.

Yung pauwi, nagshuffle ng pasahero, tas yung isa alam yung shortcut pabalik ng EDSA. Sobrang trapik jan sa langyang Ever na yan. After ilang hours, nakauwi naman ako ng buhay. Sana maulit tong ganitong mga team building kasi nung una puro kain lang sa labas tapos one time nga pala nag bowling kami pero boring din kasi boring na sports ang bowling eh.

Sige.

Metrobank.

2008-10-23T14:38:00.000+08:00

Eh, pagdating ko ng bahay may nakita akong sobre ng metrobank. Unusual ito kasi lahat ng mail na galing ng kahit anong bangko dapat dumidiretso sa office. Ang weird pa dito eh Metrobank Credit Card pa to na wala ako. Chineck ko yung loob at napansin ko na mali mali ang spelling ng mga nakalagay dito (i.e. Pangalan at address ko). Pag check ko, annual fee pa pala to. First time ako napadalahan ng CC billing statement ng metrobank at annual fee pa.

Scam ata to eh, may mga kakilala din akong nangyari na ang ganito. Awts.

TM and friends.

2008-10-19T11:25:00.000+08:00

Nice. There was supposedly a Section B reunion last night. This was planned one month prior and I doubt that there happened any planning at all. As usual, we ended up at Cloz's place. And as usual, Sausage fest is the order of the day. And the players were not as we expected. TM's not complete, and we missed the other Tropas in HS (B was divided into little tropas back then - The trouble makers (TM, yung laging 70 sa conduct), the good guys, the gays, and the free agents, yung paiba iba ng kasama. Pero tropa pa rin ang lahat).

Anyway, it was fun. It was challenging knowing how the mind of the "other" guys work. You know, their philosophies in life and how the line of the taboo is (for the first time) crossed as the heterosexual asked questions. They were boisterous as usual, and it's nice to know that some things never change.

After one bottle of JB, Vodka and a number of Grande Red Horse, everything was chaos. Some just disappeared and went home, some puked, some slept, some debating on subjects that cannot be easily discussed when you are not drunk, etc.

Paggising ko, wala na sila. Ang natira na lang eh kami ni Vargas. We went home and It was all good. Some of the guys texted me saying something to the effect of: "TM, the best kayo". Or, "Sorry nagwala ako kagabi". Or, "Text lang kayo kung may inuman ulit kayo". After I got home, I went straight to sleep.

Pictures will be available as soon as someone who has the camera that night posts them.

Eh?

2008-10-11T13:10:00.000+08:00

Kagising ko lang. Nagimbita pala si Rosario na mag Redbox. Shempre libre niya kasi galing siya Singapore ng matagal na panahon at miss niya na kami. Haha. Tagal ko lang naghintay sa kanila eh. Ang usapan 9:30, pero nagintay ako kay Joan at Rio siguro hanggang 12. Buti na lang andun si Pak at si Dap para samahan ako sa aking pagiisa.

Pauwi na ako kaso nagtext pa rin si Rio na maghintay. Pero inaantok na ako at walang nagawa ang Kape para maibsan ang aking antok. Tapos nakakaramdam na rin ako ng matinding gutom kahit nag food trip kami nung Lunch. Umuwi na rin ang mga kasama ko at hinatid ko pa yung isa pero pagdating ko ulit ng Greenbelt eh wala pa rin. Pero makalipas ang ilang minuto at dalawang biyahe sa banyo, nakita ko si Joan na tila lasing. Sinalubong ko siya at galing pala siyang the Fort. At ilang minuto pa ay nakita na namin si Rio at mukhang lasing din. Pero di pala siya lasing, pilay lang.

Langya, kaya pala ang tagal nila eh may mga sariling lakad pa pala to. Ayun, nag bideoke kami hanggang alas dos siguro. Tapos umuwi sa Hotel na tinutuluyan ni Rio. Ay oo nga pala, Public Service: Wag kayo mag Hotel sa El Chielo ata yun sa may Pasay Road. Kung magrarate ako ng hotel siguro 1/2 Star yan.

Nagising ata ako ng 6. Tapos nagbasa ng onti at hinintay sila gumising.

Lesson: Wag magtiwala sa mga babae pagdating sa mga lakad.

Look ma, I can use multiply!

2008-10-10T08:42:00.001+08:00

I don't know when this happened but it seems like Multiply has been blocked here at Office. Anyway, internet will always provide a way - Introducing hidemyass.com. It let's you literally hide your ass in the web so you are anonymously hidden (redundancy check) and now I can freely surf Multiply. It's unlike proxify.com where you have to sign up so you can login to sites (such as this one).

Anyway, I just like to rant. I think it was a year ago when me and my former team stuffed our leftover KFC bucket meal at the pantry ref for our next day merienda. The day after, we were all surprised that the ones left were thin chicken wings and the culprit gobbled up all the gravy. So I was pretty disappointed. Who wouldn't be? You are hungry and in need of KFC breast and lots of amazingly good gravy... I've learned since then, that it would not be nice to put your leftovers at the pantry ref.

But it all slipped off my mind yesterday when I neatly placed 2 leftover pizzas from lunch on a plate on the pantry ref. I was looking forward to eating it up this morning. When I went to the pantry to have my breakfast, the ref was spic and span. Yeah, the nameless, faceless culprit strikes again! And since it's raining pretty hard this morning, I am not too inclined to go down and buy some food.

Now all I wish is for that culprit is... mabaog ka sana! Litsi!

Makapagkwento nga.

2008-10-09T17:16:00.000+08:00

Eto kakauwi ko lang galing gym. Pagod as usual. Nakakadrain ang buong araw ka sa trabaho tapos mage-excercise ka pa. Medyo napansin ko nga na mali ang ginagawa ko sa gym kasi dapat daw focused ako sa isang body part sa isang araw... pero sabi naman ng iba at ng ibang articles sa net ay ok lang yun... Ano ba talaga? Sa sobrang accessible ng net, di mo alam kung papaniwalaan mo ba o hindi. Eto nakita ko nga pala months ago, ang Theory of Everything, hanapin niyo na lang sa HowStuffWorks. Apparently, ang kalahatan ay nai-plot na. So ang lahat ay naka Math. Kaya medyo Agnostic ako eh, dahil sa mga ganyan at kakabasa nang kung ano ano sa net.

Maiba tayo, napansin ko lang nowadays madaming may bitbit-bitbit ng Stephanie Meyer books. Ganito din dati nung nauso yung Da Vinci eh (isama mo na nung nauso yung LOTR, HP, Narnia atbp). Dito sa office meron atang 3 na may Twilight. Kaya alam niyo nangyari? Napabili ako ng sarili kong kopya although nabasa ko na to dati through E-Book. Kasi wala pa dito sa Pilipinas nyan eh kaya pa E-Book, E-book lang ako. Ayun nga, pero nature talaga ng Pinoy yan. Oh well. Medyo nakalimutan ko na rin yung libro kasi mediocre na story siya. Para bang Anne Rice meets Tabing Ilog. Bahahaha. Pero ok lang, wala na akong librong madevour ngayon. Hiniram ko nga kay Cloz yung interview with the vampire, balak ko sanang tapusin ulit ang Chronicles kaso medyo nakakadugo ng ilong yung plot at mythology ng Chronicles kaya pang isang basahan lang yan. Haha.

Ano pa ba? Ayan, ang bilis ng panahon, langya, Oktubre na. Waw. Mamaya maya December nanaman, Bertday ko nanaman. Mag be-bente tres na ako. Medyo natanda na tayo, wala na ako sa simula ng buhay nasa hapon na ako, tapos ilang taon na lang nasa bukang liwayway na ako tapos dead na. Eh ganyan lang naman talaga ang cycle eh. Waw, nagdrama. Ang bilis ng taon 2009 na, dati natatakot pa yung mga tao sa 2000 bug ba yun... wala naman nangyari. May mga gumawa pa ng bunker at kung ano ano pang kalokohan. Magugunaw daw ang mundo kasi matatapos na daw yung year of the 'FISH', e Jesus yun diba? Ewan, kung ano ano lang nababasa ko siguro.

Medyo may 30 minutes pa ako. Hinihintay ko kasi yung Survivor eh. Ayan na lang ang pinapanood ko nowadays. Busy na ako masyado sa buhay-buhay. O sige, tapos na ako magkwento. Pag nakaabot ka sa parteng ito, malamang wala ka rin ginagawa. Sige matulog ka nalang. Geh.

Fake Globe Rewards.

2008-10-05T14:36:00.000+08:00

Wala naman freetext eh!

Malas part 2.

2008-10-03T09:54:00.000+08:00

Sarap ng umaga ko, pagod na masarap pag galing sa jogging, walang traffic, maganda ang araw hindi masiyadong mainit... tapos pag pasok ko ng office, nagbrowse ako as usual. Pero biglang nasira PC ko. Letse. Buti na lang hindi burado ang lahat, pero ang hassle. Parang back from scratch din.

So ngayon, puro copy paste ang ginagawa ko. Buti na lang, hindi nareformat ang PC ko. Kungdi, burado ang 2 years worth of files ko. Nangyari na to ng nakaraan sakin pero mas deadly pag yung current files ko ang burado. Oh well, isang araw ng work ang nawala sakin. Bakasyon sa monday, pero mukhang papasok ako para lang makahabol.

Hays. Malas.

Baduy!

2008-10-02T17:15:00.000+08:00

Just got home. And since I don't want to pull plugs and pull the Smart RJ45(?), I went straight to my mom's bedroom to use her laptop (which is conveniently situated near the Smart cable).

As usual, my mom and our helper is watching their usual Telenovelas. I can't help but hear the dialogues thrown by the characters. Wow, ang baduy ha? Like staple Telenovelas, they use old, obscure tagalog words.

I can't help but cringe when I heard (whatshisname) this guy from Big brother throw this phrase:

"Ano yan, love letter... miss mo na ako no?"

I was like... "Tae, baduy ha?"

And because I am here at their bedroom, I am not safe from my mom's cheap shot comments (which is always the staple since I was a kid). Hindi na nagbago yan. Kaya as much as possible hindi na ako nagiistay dito sa bahay. Pero since tinatamad ako mag hatak hatak pa, endure level 5 ang ginagawa ko dito.

Sige tapusin ko na to, kung ano ano nanaman sinasabi ni mama. Hahaha.

Malas.

2008-10-01T11:37:00.000+08:00

Basa sapatos ko kaninang umaga, layo ng nilakad kasi sarado ang Ayala. Napabili pa ng chinelas. Binaha, late, putikan ang paa... malas.

Ang paradox ng buhay.

2008-09-28T18:09:00.000+08:00

This past week flew by so fast (which I am particularly happy about) and before I knew it, it's already 10PM, Sunday. Life's monotony is really bugging me lately - I wake up almost mechanically at 5AM, sharp, and if I am up to it, I'll do some roadwork before going to work.

Apparently, I found out that this do not work for me because I wind up amazingly sleepy at work. Anyway, depending on traffic, I arrive at Makati somewhere between quarter to 8 and 8 sharp. I'll walk a few blocks to Rufino, board the freekingly slow elevator of death to the uncovenient 8th floor, pee, log myself in and go to my table. I'll pour myself a cup of milo or my special mix of latte / milo (which tastes strongly of milo, regardless of what ratio I mix it up with coffee) and browse the net for a few minutes until the guys from the team invite me for breakfast and we'll return before start of core hours which is 10 AM... I think.

Ok, this is always the scenario of my everyday life on Mornings. At Lunchtime, thankfully, there would be 3 scenarios depending on the situation.

Scenario 1: I'll have lunch with the guys.

Scenario 2: If I am not in the mood for lunch (or I ate too much that morning), I'll coerce someone to go with me to Greenbelt to play Dota.

Scenario 3: Lunchout with the same people from Scenario 1. This usually happens on paydays.

After one of the 3 scenarios above, I'll return to my workarea, grab my brush and toothpaste, go to the bathroom and brush. If I feel a little funny, I'll poop. I'll return to my workarea and let the hours fly by until 5PM. I'll stay for a little while until it's entirely safe to get out of office. If I am inclined to go to the gym, I'll do my routine and get home most likely at 9PM. I'll pop some DVD to watch and go to sleep.

Now, repeat that until Thursday since Friday will always be different depending on the people I'm with. There are 2 scenarios on weekends - I'll be piss drunk or I am at home. If I am not at home, I am bored and easily annoyed, if I am drunk, I want to be home and rest. Jeez, I am never contented.

When I was almost gruaduating (2005?, yeah 2005.), I thought to myself, "Waw, sa wakas graduate na ako, hindi na ako magaaral!" But 3 years after, I want to get back being a student, careless and eager. I hope there's more to life than this. It's a paradox. I never thought life itself is a paradox.

Now I want a change of pace. I've been on the workforce for almost (gasp) 3 years now and I want something different. I want to get back to painting and art, I want more time to consume more books than usual, I want to write, I want to study again, I want to have a freeekin peace of mind, I want to get out of Makati Traffic, I want to get out of life's monotony...

Oh man.

Awts.

2008-09-22T17:16:00.000+08:00

ALL my saved items in my 360 is gone. I signed up a new account in XBL and boom, all my saved games are lost. I am currently in middle of playing ToV and this happened. T_T

Not drunk week!

2008-09-21T19:18:00.000+08:00

Wow, I've finally managed to be sober for one whole week. I was kidnapped by my LP tropa last friday and ended up at a bar at Casimiro. I just drank 2 bottles of beer which given my blood's alcohol level, a far cry from what I've been consuming for the past weeks. And a lot of sheesha. I don't know the spelling but I think some of you folks know what is that.

Anyway, the day after, I was a liver lover boy lols. I texted Jean Luigi (TALK TO THE CLAW!) Aragon and went to Cloz's yet again. Spidey sense is detecting an inuman session. Sense never fails, but AGAIN, I evaded the attack. They went to Central and I was left at Cloz's home to sleep. I woke up at like 7-ish and I just played DOTA until 4PM. After Cloz woke up, we went to Greenhills and just hung out there.

And yeah, finally, mom got DSL for my kid brother who is taking up IT. I guess kid brother is bugging the hell out of mom to get his DSL fix. I can't believe I got through College without DSL. I remember doing my work at 31.1 kb friggin' s. Sigh, I guess my mom can't afford to piss of kid brother.

I also tried hooking up the Xbox to Live but I guess account doesn't work anymore. Too bad. Anyway, I am currently downloading torrents. I remember back in the day I was downloading a single song for a frikkin' hour.

Oh well, got to go. :D

Weekend.

2008-09-15T06:01:00.000+08:00

As usual I broke my alcohol diet. No 1 week passed that I did not consume alcohol. Last saturday, I asked my childhood tropa John (di pa kami marunong magsalita, tropa na kami) to accompany me to Quiapo so I can score some cheapass weights.

I half thought that this would end a drinking session since another childhood tropa, Jonard keeps on saying to me that I have debts to pay since I seldom hang out with them anymore. Mahirap talaga maging in demand. That day, 3 sets of people wanted me to hang out with them. But I already signed up with the tropa from childhood so I have to put aside the other 2. Fortunately for Group number 2, the place we were having our inuman is near the place she proposed so I got to hang out with them for a few minutes.

Anyway, that morning, I went to Mapua to get John. I passed along the old PNU road that connects to SM Manila. Whew! Time really flew. Last time I was walking through these streets were four years ago. There was this really unfogettable sablay incident that happened here. I think I blogged it back then... Anyway, this was like 4 to 5 years ago, it was dark and murky and there was this dude following me around. I was pretty alarmed so I dashed to the PNU intersection and got on a bus. Unfortunately, this bus is headed to Alabang, as in Alabang not Alabang thru Zapote which is the route I am usually taking. Long story short, sablay talaga yung araw na yun at mga 2 na ata nakauwi.

Ok, so SM Manila is still feels the same. With few additions and renovations. The KFC I used to eat at is renovated, there are new CRs and the thing I missed the most is the Chicken company. I met up with John and in a heartbeat we bought chicken meals here. After that we checked the prices at Toby and went to Quiapo to score some weights. We were able to haggle a little bit and got the bars for 200 pesos each (from 295!). So that's like a 200 peso savings. We went back to Toby's since weights there are much cheaper and there is a discount from SM sale.

After that I went home and tested the weights. It feels alright. I went to PERPSpective to spend the night with John's tropa. After that, I went home semi drunk and woke up early so I can jog those alcohol away. After a few minutes of jogging in Philam a dude asked me to play basketball with them since they're one short. After the game I went home and tested the weights. The rest of the day was spent chilling out at my room, watched a few DVDs and continued my ToV. At 6 I went to the gym and did my usual routine. Got home and slept. This morning I was planing to do some roadwork first before going to office but I feel sore, which is good according to my nutritionist/personal trainer John, so I just went back to sleep to recuperate. Lols.

Now I am at the office and my boss is still not around. But that doesn't mean I'll be slacking around. Though I want to rest so badly.

I feel so frikin sore.

Shorts: Little thoughts stuck in mind.

2008-09-11T15:19:00.000+08:00

There is a serene outpouring of pathos in the prospect of what would come and of what is inevitable.

I will scour every inch, every fiber of my being just to get to that, just to get to you.

You brought everything back, every color and every meaning.

I will open up and let you search every nook and cranny of my existence.

Might there be an element that will hinder, don't you bother, I will always be there with you.

And when I promise you I will be there always and forever, you can count on its pristine truth.

I don't believe in afterlife, so let us make the most out of it.

Take my hand, we will build our transport to the stars and fly.

Third Eye Fail. OTL.

2008-09-08T04:25:00.000+08:00

Pucha, di kami nakanood ng 3EB. Langyang Octoberfest yan, ang daming tao. Kahit yung may mga ticket na, di na nakapasok. Walang kasiste-sistema. 5 pa lang umalis na ako ng office, pero medyo late yung mga kasama ko (mga hayop kayo), kaya nakarating kami dun mga bandang pa 9 na. Tapos ayun nga, ang daming horde ng tao.

Kaya nagdecide na lang kami na sumama kay Taning (TM din) at ang kanyang mga friends at nakita pa namin si Ilagan. Small world lang eh. Dun kami tumambay sa Metrowalk. Mga 12 nagbalak kaming umuwi kasi si Teban may pasok ata ng 1. Kaso di na rin siya pumasok kaya nagdecide na lang kami tumambay kina Cloz.

NagDOTA lang kami hanggang 4PM. Oo, 1AM - 4PM. AMP! Nagkatamaran na umuwi kasi medyo naulan-ulan din. Tapos hinintay namin si Aragon at nagpunta kami ng Greenhills. Tumambay lang kami dun sa Promenade at nagpakaloser. Haha. Medyo nandidiri na ako sa sarili ko (siguro si Vargas din) kasi 2 days na yung suot ko. Kahit nakailang ligo na ako kadiri pa rin. Kahit nakaheram ako ng damit, kadiri pa rin! Hahaha.

Nagbalak na kami umuwi kaso biglang may lightbulb na kumislap at naisipan kong magroad trip sa Tagaytay. HKG is back! First time ni Aragon at ng Fortuner ni Cloz sa tambayan eh. Haha. Anyway, medyo panget na dun sa tambayan namin kasi hinarangan na so kailangan mo pang tumawid para makaupo dun sa perfect view ng taal. Pagtapos ng tambay, umuwi na kami mga 2 na ata to. Tapos natulog. Binalak ko ng umuwi agad baka magkatamaran na eh, at medyo kadiri na talaga ang aking feeling. Hehehe.

Pagbalik na pagbalik ko ng bahay naligo ako at nagpalit ng damit at dumiretso ulit ng GH kasi may ime-meet ako dun para sa aking munting business. Tapos naghanap na rin ako ng weights. Langya ang mahal. Di na lang. Sa Quiapo na lang ako bibili.

Monday nanaman nakakatamad.

Give me the damned tickets!

2008-09-04T04:32:00.000+08:00

I just ran into Vargas a while ago at PBCom and he seems like he still hasn't got any wind on the upcoming 3EB concert though I posted it in Friendster and put it up as a status in YM. Good thing I ran into him and I've told him the freeeking good news since he is a big fan as well. He said that he will AWOL this saturday... Well, good for him, an event such as this one is once in freeeeeking lifetime.

Anyway, I was scouring the net on how to score tickets for the upcoming 3EB concert which I know will be held short since it is not a one-band concert but a few local acts will play as well. I'd like to see The Dawn play, but since there are no detailed information on what band will play on a certain stage, I guess it will be, yet again, a workout on the legs, just like every music event we partake in.

I got the site: http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/Articles.aspx?ID=2&a_id=713

Apparently, the Special Oktoberfest Marquee Tickets are sold out. Bad news for us who wanted to see 3EB for minimal petots. So what we have in option is the General Admission Tickets which I know will be the farthest (no pun intended hehe, fans will get this.) from 3EB and the freeeekinly expensive 1.5k petot tickets which will access the Special Viewing Area for the 3EB concert. Again, purchasing that one would be a deadly since I guess 3EB will just play 2 or 3 songs and I don't we have budget for that since some of them has yet to find work. I would get that special ticket but I don't want to watch it alone... ferk. But I guess the guys, like me, will cough up 1.5k to see them live.

There is also a Group Package available which will score you lots of tickets - well, this is good for school field trips. Come on, how can you gather 50+ persons in such a short notice announcement. Well, SMB's mirth amuses me to no end.

Pucha, bukas na to and I still haven't talked to the guys.

Public Service

2008-09-03T15:43:00.000+08:00

http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=4361726c20416c6c616e7c56656c61

3EB in Manila!

2008-09-02T06:20:00.000+08:00

Out of the blue (no pun intended :D), Jewo PMed me and pasted a link, I never thought this would happen in a million years... but its true - Third Eye Blind HERE in Manila... and it's free to boot! Wooo!

I've been a fan since Elem/HS together with fellow 3EB junkies Cloz and Teban, and even though time has passed, musical tastes evolved and branched out, I always find myself coming back to 3EB's unique sound and intelligent lyrics. Now, after we failed at the Eraserheads concert, this will be a welcome engagement. Nyahaha.

Now bring U2 here in Philippines.

Hectic

2008-08-31T15:02:00.000+08:00

Weekend has been hectic. I think I’ve just spent like 3 hours at home since Friday. I didn’t make it to a friend’s boyfriend’s party since I got a lot going on the office that day since I have to be at Makati early next day. So I just spent the night at LKG (with a few RDU folks) and drank a couple of beers there before I went home. You know, just to pass the time.

The next morning I went to Makati, did a few errands there and went to get Aragon so he can buy his DVD writer in Greenhills (I also have to buy a gift for baby Rica since it’s her first birthday). He wasted more than a thousand bucks for this writer since he wants to watch all the porn he accumulated over the years that were burned in their respective DVDs. Now, I am pushing myself to comprehend that but it’s still beyond me.

Anyway, after Greenhills I went home to test my newly bought Too Human which I will review later if I am so inclined. After like a couple of minutes, Cloz texted me if I wanted to go to the Eraserheads reunion concert. I was a little hesitant because I have to be in North EDSA the next morning to attend my goddaughter’s first birthday, but I still went with Cloz.

We arrived at the Fort (Man, I miss this place, it has changed a lot since the days I was working at Net One) and we can hear Eraserheads songs splitting the sky. There were lots of people who will FREELOAD like us. Parking is pretty impossible near the venue so we parked at Market! Market! And walked all the way to the concert venue.

We arrived at the concert venue to find out that it was cut short since Ely’s brought to the hospital or something. So what we went there for was in vain. Oh well… but there were lots of celebrities there. Haha, Aragon and Vargas was like children at Christmas eve when KC Conception walked past us and Aragon said “Hi” and KC “Hi”-ed back. Lols.

We saw Abaya and Kat Alano, Francine Prieto, Imago, Michael De Mesa, Danita, the Chicosci guy, and lots more. Anyway, after that we went to Libis to eat. They were planning to drink but I don’t want to since I have to be early the next day. So we went back to Cloz’s and slept. It was 4 I think and I woke up at 7, went back to home and took a bath and went straight to SM North EDSA.

Good thing that MRT is not packed on Sundays so it was a pretty bearable trip. I met up with an officemate with her “daughter” and took them to Rica’s party. Last time when I went to Rica’s baptism, I was a loner and I got no one to talk to when Rico’s out entertaining the guests so he told me to bring a friend. Unfortunately, not everyone I invited went but it was fun anyway. I got to play “dad” to Hannah (the kid) and fed her, bought her gifts; let her play with Barney etc. etc.

After that I went home but I didn’t take the MRT and took the bus instead so I can catch up on sleep. I was so tired that I slept all the way to LRT Buendia. I took the Alabang bus and had my hair cut and went home to sleep so at 6 I can go to the gym. But alas, I woke up at exactly 6 but the rain was disastrous so I just went upstairs and did this blog.

Whew.

After 6 years... haha.

2008-08-29T11:11:00.000+08:00

Awts, yung puma kong pula na college pa lang nasa kin na, tuluyan nang nabutas. Mas nauna pa yung bago na Vans masira kaya kala ko magtatagal na to poreber. Haha. Papasukin na rin ng baha to kahit ilang maskin tape pa ang ilagay dito....

Dami na naming pinagdaanan nito eh, baha, coup, lindol, bagyo, nakaakyat na rin ng bundok to, nakadating kung saan saan, suot ko to nung nagda-drama ako, nung masayang masaya ako, eto din yung suot ko nung muntik ako malunod ako, nung nakasakay ako ng kalabaw, nung naghike ako ng 3 oras... basta madami na.

Unti unti na rin mapupunit to... kelangan na bumili litsi... kaso mahal sapatos ngayon eh, tae. Hirap naman maging mahirap ika nga ni Dong Abay. Gawan natin siya ng tula? Ay wag na lang... letse, napapraning nanaman ako... gusto ko na umuwi!

wtfomgOTLblahblah post

2008-08-28T04:02:00.000+08:00

Ok, I have to rewrite and gist this post from my original entry since my goshdarn dial up connection broke:

I went home yesterday and learned that my mother has a new aspire laptop. I think he wooed (lambing) my father and coerced him to buy her that. Which is pretty disturbing since I have no idea that it wooing still works for people their age.

Anyway, my father giving someone (now I know the reason why we don't have decent meals these past few weeks. JOKE! ) a laptop is pretty shocking and is a feat by itself since my father is as computer literate as a new born child. Hehe. The laptop is pretty high end for my standards and is a welcome addition since I will not be saving up for a laptop or a desktop computer. I was planning on buying one so if the need to bring home work arises, I will not be empty handed.

It was my first time using VISTA and it's pretty snazzy, but it's still rough around the edges. I still prefer the old timer XP. Anyway, no qualms about that. So I've borrowed a flashdrive from the folks here at the office so I can install tools on the laptop and since we still have a primitive dial up connection at home, it will take forever to download those.

Anyway, enough with that laptop. It's primarily one of the reason today that I am pleased with my mom for the first time for the loooongest time. Haha.

Last night, my iPhone earphones finally snapped. It's been an incident waiting to happen. It's inevitable, so it's a welcome prospect. Last night, I took the bus home. Since I am maladroit (clumsy, new word for you reader :D), I snapped the jack. Everything happened in slowmo, myself sitting on the back chair, the chords wrapped around on the adjacent seat, and the sound of the reverberating 'SNAP' of the chords. I was planning to intertwine it back but the cut is literally at the jack so even electricians cannot patch this one up.

I remembered that there was this PSP, iPod shop near RFC so I can buy a cheapass earphones for the meantime since iPhone earphones (with the mic and track forwarder) is nowhere to be seen here in Manila and I have to buy it online (which is NOT cheap considering it is only a goddarn earphone). To my surprise, there are already chinese made earphones that are compatible with iPhone (jacks longer than usual). And not only that, it also has a mic for calls and track forwarder. The booth guy told me that it is only a mic but when I tested it, it also forwards track. Anyway, after I was 500 petot poorer, I went home.

ENDING POST!

Insurance.

2008-08-21T04:37:00.000+08:00

Ok, I know I've ranted about my mother for years now. But, like all my rants, this has to be taken off the chest...

So I've paid my insurance (it's due last tuesday), but since I am at a financial crisis right now, I am a little bit short. After I got to office, she texted me that I have to complete the amount... and just as I expected she texted something like this:

"Al, kulang yung pera na binayad mo, kulang pa ng (insert amount here)."

I replied: "Wala na ako pera, yan lang kaya ko..."

And guess what, the amount is like 30% more than what I am missing. Apparently, she wants to kick back a little more. Damn, that crazy wench is driving me nuts. I want to get out of the house but alas, I cannot since I am still tied up with all this crazy payments all over the place.

If I have my money to myself, I can easily get someone to live with me in an apartment. Maybe in Makati so it would be easy and finally, I can live independently - which is something I wanted to do for the longest time.

I remember years ago when I was a graduating student starting to look for a job, my mom said something to the effect of:

"Pag nagkatrabaho kayo, hindi naman ako manghihingi eh..."

Weeks after that I got a job at ATP and after that she said something like:

"Shempre, dapat magbibigay kayo every sweldo."

What suck is that my mom always has this side comments that's always pointed to me. Especially this morning, I got pretty pissed because she was (as always) talking to our helper and she was saying that:

"Pag ayaw maraming dahilan."

I didn't eat my breakfast, took a bath and went straight to work just to avoid her getting on my nerves and talk back. It's always like this... everytime. I don't want to make it work since I've really given up on her and her selfish ways.

What sucks is that I don't want to leave RDI to get a higher paying job so I can make ends meet. You see, there are a lot of companies sharking their way to people in the 1 - 2 years work bracket and I am one of them. A number of companies are contacting me right now and I don't want to leave RDI just yet because there is still a lot too learn and I still have this "utang na loob" to my boss.

Anyway, I can't do something about my monster mom so I just endure her and her ways. Someday, I will get out of that house and never look back!

T_T

A Twist in my Story.

2008-08-19T09:12:00.000+08:00

Slow down, the world isn't watching us break down
It's safe to say we are alone now, we're alone now
Not a whisper, the only noise is the receiver
I'm counting the seconds until you break the silence
So please just break the silence

The whispers turn to shouting
The shouting turns to tears
Your tears turn into laughter
And it takes away our fears

So you see, this world doesn't matter to me
I'll give up all I had just to breathe
The same air as you till the day that I die
I can't take my eyes off of you

And I'm longing, for words to describe how I'm feeling
I'm feeling inspired
My world just flip turned upside down
It turns around, say what's that sound
It's my heart beat, it's getting much louder
My heart beat, is stronger than ever
I'm feeling so alive, I'm feeling so alive

My whispers turn to shouting
The shouting turns to tears
Your tears turn into laughter
And it takes away our fears

So you see, this world doesn't matter to me
I'll give up all I had just to breathe
The same air as you till the day that I die
I can't take my eyes off of you

I'm finally waking up, a twist in my story
It's time I open up, and let your love right through me
I'm finally waking up, a twist in my story
It's time I open up, and let your love right through me
That's what you get
When you see your life in someone else's eyes
That's what you get, that's what you get

So you see, this world doesn't matter to me
I'll give up all I had just to breathe
The same air as you till the day that I die
I can't take my eyes off of you
So you see,This world doesn't matter to me
I'll give up all I had just to breathe
The same air as you till the day that I die
I can't take my eyes off of you