Today's the birthday of my surrogate "son", Nico. Happy Birthday Nico! We're gonna have a real blast tonight!

I think I'm still in recovery mode after last night's party. Paul celebrated his birthday over at Yale, which marks my second ever Yale party. Things went pretty well, and I learned a few things:

• Putopaos are actually pretty good.
  
• Oneal makes great Mojitos or You can never go wrong with Bacardi.
  
• Cake icing can turn your lips blue.
  
• Archer makes sure to keep Urim at bay.
  
• Pao can be dangerously fun at these events...and what's scarier is that I enjoyed it! =D
  
• Thyme is very important.
  
• Jon has a very scary knife best suited for eviscerating victims.
  
• Carl claims not to wear underwear most of the time.
  
• Nick is really Carl. Really.
  
• Carl has a hot sister - but given the last statement, does that really mean Nick? Or maybe people just want to watch Carl's sister's play.
  
• It is more than theoretically possible to throw Zuri out the window.
  
• People get drunk a lot faster these days.
  
• Don't drink and park. Really.

On the whole it was a GREAT party and I'm glad I got to make it. Geek events are such fun.

Now I'm just about ready with tonight's dinner - it's theoretically picadillo soup, although I didn't have ground beef so I used the leftover pork instead. It smells about right and I'm tempted to add cabbage, but I decided against it. Here we go on another cooking adventure!

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The grass may seem greener, but the flowers might be dead on the other side.

First, Happy Birthday to former schoolmate and fellow musically-inclined geek, Zuri! I guess we get to celebrate your birthday along with Paul tonight!

Today also happens to be Independence Day in the US! Enjoy the fireworks and the barbecues to all the folks across the ocean!

Last night Tobie to Metrowalk to buy DVDs. It was my first time to go with him and apparently we are of like minds when it comes to buying movies, which can be a dangerous thing. We went to my normal vendor, who is the same person that my mom buys from. Between the two of us, we get a ridiculous amount of DVDs approaching the levels of being able to sell titles on our own or something. It's that bad.

Oh, and Tom was with us, too. He had pretty much stayed over since the previous night and joined us for our rather hearty dinner.

So anyway, it was actually me, Tobie and Tom at Metrowalk with Tobie and me doing the bulk of the selecting and buying. Needless to say we made the vendor very happy since we got a ridiculous amount of title to the level that even after applying discounts she could still throw in extra titles at whim. After buying all those DVDs, any plans of possibility of eating out even just for dessert pretty much fizzled.

We did swing by the Pleasure Palace, which is the sex shop at Metrowalk, just to show Tom what it was like. Our casual looking around turned into a serious shopping trip to find a gift for a friend. To our surprise, we were approached by the store owner who was pretty generous in offering her "expertise" in helping us select a gift. It was rather awkward at times given she was rather outspoken and as more and more people entered the shop, she ended up attracting more attention. She tasted the flavored lubes in front of us and was encouraging us to try it too and went as far as applying some of the more expensive lubes on Tobie's hand so we could "sample" how great it was. It was certainly weird.

I like the gift we picked out and hopefully he'll enjoy the gift, too. No, the gift is not for Paul, sadly.
From Pleasure Palace, it was off to O Bar for the three of us to meet a friend who was in need over there. It was pretty packed, as Fridays tend to be, and not quite as fun as our more relaxed drinking sessions on Sunday evenings. I still had an okay time and the alcohol was quite relaxing but I doubt that I'll want to brave the weekend Malate crowds again anytime soon.

Today Tobie and I got up pretty late and finally watched the last two episodes of Dollhouse. Wow. That's all I can say for now.

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There's no escape!

I'm on leave tonight. Hooray hurrah!

Despite being on leave last Friday as well, this week has taken a lot out of me. There's just so much going on in the office and it's been an interesting challenge to juggle everything around. I'm pretty happy with how the team has been generally performing, but as always there's been room for improvement here and there. That's work life for you - the fun just never ends.

I'm cooking again - yet another culinary adventure. I'm trying to mix my sister's Rice Pilaf recipe with the addition of some frozen veggies Tobie and I had picked up on one of our trips to the supermarket. We don't have some nice steak or stroganoff to go on the side, so we'll just have to settle for some fried giniling extended with potatoes. Tobie plans on mixing a salad as well which will round out the meal.

I forgot to mention that Tom is here - he crashed after he and Tobie went out. So yeah, we're cooking for three today and it's not just because we're feeling excessively hungry. At the same time, there's pressure to cook instead of ordering out since the little fridge we have is a bit overloaded and it could really use some relief, hehe. I really need to add a larger refrigerator to the planned shopping list - almost forgot.

Tonight we plan on hitting Metrowalk to get some DVD cases and naturally a number (more like a LOT) of DVDs to add to the collection. Exciting! I just hope we make it in time, hehe.

In the middle of composing this entry I ended up needing to devote more time to the actual cooking and once done we ate. It turned out pretty good, albeit rather heavy, haha. Now we're all pretty full and finishing Legally Blonde: the Musical. Hooray for cooking success! Level up!

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Oh poor Death, he was just doing his job. =P

First, a very Happy Birthday to Marc, one of my classmates from high school. Hope you had a great day fellow geek! =D

It's interesting to note how cooking has become such a key part of my daily routine. I know I'm nowhere near as skilled as I want to be (or perhaps need to be), but I'm moving right along as best as I can. It's certainly challenged the more OCD-ish parts of my brain since a lot of the more interesting kitchen experiments have required me to leave the comfort of precise measurement and looking for highly-detailed recipes. Instead there's a lot of "winging it" in terms of what's available or the usual sense of adventure when you want to try adding in other ingredients because you like them or maybe because something in your head makes you think the entire combination just might work.

Starting with the very basic topped rice dishes Tobie and I started out with, I'm proud enough to note that I've added some pretty decent dishes to my menu, mostly thanks to my mom. It started with the very hearty creamy chicken soup recipe I got for her and now I'm building up to making her picadillo soup, if I can manage it. I've also managed to create a decent pork sinigang, although I know I was missing a few ingredients to give it that extra kick. I've also bough ingredients for making some sort of pork giniling, and I can only hope that it turns out as well as I envision it.

That brings me to the topic of grocery shopping, which is a natural partner to cooking. In the beginning it was all about quick, easy and of course the nearly ready-to-eat. Thus that triggered a lot of canned goods, instant soups and the like, which was okay but nothing amazing. Today's grocery trip was one of the more extensive ones not in terms of volume but more in terms of trying to think of the actual dishes I wanted to prepare and somehow mapping out the recipes in my head. I definitely need to work on this since we still get into that back and forth shuffling between aisles and sections as we remember things that we need sort of last minute and end up doubling back.

Today we shopped at the local Shopwise for the first time, which wasn't too bad an experience, nor was it all that great. I've always liked the fact that they're sort of aiming to be something like a Wal-Mart by trying to have everything you might need including having a rather robust appliance section. They also have a better selection that SM Supermarket in certain aspects like the kinds of brewing coffee they offer and the diversity of their imported goods and snack foods. I'm just not 100% comfy with their meat / poultry / fish section since it's strictly in-house and I have to admit I've grown up to be a Monterey kind of guy.

Things ended rather badly once we hit the check-out counter since they appeared to be having some trouble with the BPI credit card reader. After the initial swipe, it was unable to confirm whether or not my payment went through and thus they needed to call BPI to verify if the charge was valid. This led to a lengthy waiting period while the cashier tried to make the calls as their customer service desk while Tobie and I were falling asleep as we were waiting - both of us had been up all night. It's a shame things didn't go as well but more or less resolution was reached to some degree. I still need to call them back tomorrow to check on the charging of my card and if everything went as it should have but for now we'll just let it rest. There's only so much I can do.

Now I need to get something to eat before shift - I have my usual tuna over rice in the rice cooker with the added benefit of tomatoes, onions and lettuce. This is the first time I tried adding a little cayenne pepper for some extra kick so let's hope that doesn't turn out badly, hehe.

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I'm sorry, but I REALLY found this totally hilarious, hehehe

This is a multi-birthday day! Birthday greetings are definitely needed for my high school classmate, Toffy, and fellow geek and alter ego of C3PO, Paul! Yale party on Saturday! Woot woot!

Wish me luck - as I compose this entry I'm waiting for my pork to boil. It's my first attempt at sinigang and hopefully I won't screw things up too much, hehe. For added difficulty level, we're cooking this in a rice cooker - yes, I believe it can be done! Note to self: get a gas range really really soon.

My geek interests seem to be going down an Asian path as of late with me wanting to explore things I've seen in the past to things I've only read about but always want to try. Top of the list right now is Katamari as evidenced by the change in my Plurk Theme and recent video posts on Facebook. There's something about rolling the equivalent of a non-dung dung ball out of everything from mah jong titles to cows all to the blaring sounds of J-Pop, hahaha. I've never actually played the game during my PS2 period - god knows how that happened - but I had always read about it and kept an eye out for a copy of the game. Tobie says he has the games but they've yet to be returned by another friend so he's doubling efforts to get in touch with the guy and give me a chance to play.

The other item of interest in the anime series Gate Keepers that featured various teens with the ability to tap into some other dimension by opening "gates", thus giving them certain abilities. For example, the lead character Shun Ukiya has the power of the Gate of Gales, one of the strongest gates whereas Ruriko Ikusawa has a different gate ability, that of the Gate of Healing, which allows her to fire souped up arrows. My favorite due to sheer ridiculousness remains to be Reiko Asagiri, who had the power of the Gate of Illusion. While many Gate Keepers are able to tap into their gate abilities with their bodies alone, Ruriko was one of those who needed to channel her powers with another object. Sadly, her gate power needed the use of a piano, often depicted as her being carted into battle on some vehicle that would carry her grand piano. I know, it's stupid, right? Still, it made for great entertainment and for some reason I never got to finish watching the series even though there were only like 24 episodes in the original series.

So after I finish downloading all episodes of Spiral Zone and ThunderCats, next in queue is the original Gate Keepers series along with Gate Keepers 21 for good measure. Gate open! =D

Things we need to shop for: gas range, LPG tank, place to put the gas range on, book shelves, DVD cases.

Things we want to shop for: even more DVDs, even more books, even more comics, a Wii, an HP Mini for me.

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This happens to me all the time - good thing I proofread my emails at work before sending!

Well, welcome to the end of June. This day becomes significant since it's the last day of my first full month here at Sietch Creare. Sure, I know that technically speaking, Archer and I have been here for more than 30 days but there's still something to be said about completing an actual calendar month from start to finish. We've spent all this time as a race trying to define time and break it down into distinct markers that it's inevitable for the mind to associate the completion of such a passage with some significance or sense of fulfillment. So what do I have to show for things?

Life in Cubao hasn't been that drastically different for the most part. I still blog every day and spend unhealthy amounts of time in front of the computers. I watch DVDs and downloaded TV shows. Yes, that much is pretty much the same. The difference really is in the quality of the experience - the fact that I don't necessarily watch my geeky shows alone anymore. I don't just read some obscure comic book and have no one to talk to in order to share opinions. No matter how weird or crazy some of the stuff that I get into can be, I know that to some extent Archer will appreciate why but more often than not he'll find it interesting too.

A lot of my online collaborative stuff feels more useful now. Archer takes the time to encode expenses on Google Docs too and he enjoys the ridiculous amounts of items I share via Google Reader. We share bookmarks across Firefox installations via Xmarks and we download different shows, movies, music and comic books and end up sharing those too. We notice similar things when we watch geeky shows together and we react in similar ways to certain films.

I come home to find little notes and random things like roses on the dining table. We try to be the first to wash the dishes before the other does them. I think I've gotten infected with the need to do little things that are stereotypically sweet that my rational mind would prefer to dismiss as just being corny or cheesy. But that's how it is these days - you just find yourself all giddy when you find Flat Tops in your bag or you feel a thrill when you surprise the other with donuts even if you bought them from the MRT station. Chores get done randomly but without the excessive need for prompting. Things get rearranged and he doesn't mind my need to organize things in complicated, time-consuming systems. Heck, we're both trying to learn to cook now and our experiments have certainly been exciting and thankfully edible for the most part.

Don't get me wrong - it hasn't all been perfect. There are still those moments of slipping into old habits and behaviors, moments of insecurity and the inevitable misunderstandings. Many people would say that it's way too early to be living together but I still don't regret that decision at all. Things have worked thus far and we're wiling to talk when we need to iron out the kinks and clear out the snags that form along the way. It's certainly an experience, one that I'm definitely excited to continue on.

We still have loads to do. The Sietch is in need of shelving for the books and my toys. I need to get around to start bagging and tagging the comic books and the music CDs. We need more cases for the DVDs so we can collapse them into something a lot more manageable in terms of occupied space. There's furniture to be bought (like a couch) and other essential appliance type stuff we need too (like a gas range) and all those other million things you end up thinking of as you try to constantly work to improving your home.

And that's what the Sietch is. Home.

PS

I really want to play Katamari. Would you believe I never got to even try the game when it was major on the PS2? Tobie says he'll try to get his old copies of the games back - apparently he lent them out and they have yet to return. I can't wait!

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And here's yet another game that has me curious! Fat Princess!!!

First, a very Happy Birthday greeting goes out to Podi! I certainly hope your day truly is special and that you never stop coming up with all those wacky ideas that people high on narcotics can only dream about. =P

Weird - just found out that my DSL bill ended up getting sent to Vella even though my phone bill is already being sent to Sietch Creare here in Cubao. It's not clear to me how this happened since when I applied for DSL it was obviously using the new address. I had placed a check in the check box for integrating the two bills together but obviously that didn't happen and according to the agent I got on the phone, supposedly it can't be done for my DSL and wireless landline phone services. Given the old address somehow got spliced onto the DSL bill, I'm thinking my agent just might be ignorant about the possibility of a combined bill and I'm probably going to try calling again later tonight to see if I can't get that processed for me.

I hate that feeling - the one you get when you don't believe the agent on the phone that you're speaking to. It's not that you think they're stupid or something - you just feel they're playing safe or maybe they're being lazy and they don't want to go that extra mile to get that problem fixed for you. It's frustrating and at times I don't know what we ought to expect and in the end I try to "shop" for more knowledgeable or more helpful agents. It's a bad practice, I know - and I only say this as someone who works in the call center industry, too. I hate it when our customers do exactly what I'm doing - calling back a few times to find an agent who will do what they way, but that same inside knowledge reminds me that agents are only human and are prone to making mistakes. At least I don't go shouting at them over the phone or anything - I just remain calm and try to steer them towards the right place in order for them to do their jobs. I have yet to even attempt the "get me your supervisor" card or anything like that.

Yeah, I know. In truth I'm actually one of the scariest types of customers any agent can get on the phone - one who understands the system, remains completely rational and won't let you just escalate the call in order for you to escape. I'm the one who accepts the little roulette of agent selection by ACD and I hold you accountable for fixing my problem from start to end.

In order news, the past few days have been suitably geeky alongside all the Pride-related drunkenness. I got a number of reviews published for the Geeky Guide, which always makes me feel good and Tobie's been making sure to keep me constantly supplied with new material to write about in the form of movies, cartoons and other geeky fun stuff.

And while he's been introducing me to new things he loves as I have introduced him to a few things I enjoy, we've also been exploring certain things together which is even more fun. There's something about getting into some new TV show or catching an interesting film for the first time. We just ourselves reacting to the events depicted in similar ways or we respond to the same characters or we end up making the same comment or remark over and over. If someone else were to watch us, you'd think that we were playing a trick on other people or that this was some sort of an act, but seriously it's not. It just keeps happening this way.

Case in point - we're now finally getting around to watching Dollhouse and we just got through watching the 7th episode, which was quite a trip. I mean seriously, it had all characters acting outside their comfort zones, and thus revealing new aspects about each of them while at the same time helping Tobie and me confirm or debunk a few theories we've had running about the show for some time. With a concept like Dollhouse, the notion that anyone can be a "doll" is always there and this episode really helped clear up some of the possibilities we had been mulling over, while still opening even more doors about the story, the complications waiting beyond and all that good stuff. It's turning out to be a lot better than how it was in the beginning and I can understand how support for the show rallied in this second half of the season, this garnering enough studio attention to help it survive this long. I can't wait to finish the season and see where all this is leading - I'm not setting my expectations too high given the mixed reactions to the show that are floating out there, but I'm not selling it short either.

Ah geekery, I know you well.

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No glass case would keep that chocolate bar safe from me! XD

The last weekend of June is always Gay Pride here in Manila, more or less. Some will argue that it's not really a Pride celebration but just a collection of White Parties that aren't necessarily in celebration of Gay identity anymore, but who's to say really? June is always Pride month in most places around the world and thus I still hold to the belief that this really is our celebration of Pride. It has become a near sacred time of the year for me and is probably the closest I'll get to a day of religious obligation any more. Yeah, doesn't drinking, dancing and partying with friends make for a great religion? LOL

This was my first time to attend the White Party with Archer and his friends and it was certainly a different experience. In previous years I've always celebrated at Bed and this time around I found myself under a tent in front of O Bar. It was a really good night and the company of friends was certainly welcome. I definitely had a few drinks too many and it was quite a challenge to keep myself conscious until we returned to the Sietch but I didn't regret a single moment of the night. Well, maybe I sort of regret those tequila shots given the nausea and headaches I ended up with.

So here's me wishing all my LGBT friends and those who support us a very Happy Pride! Hope you all had fun last night, in whatever way you felt best.

Today has all been about recovery. I slept in most of the day and woke up a tad too early around lunch time - a common problem whenever I have too much to drink. Instead of sleeping everything off, I tend to find myself waking up earlier than planned and then unable to return to sleep. So I initially just stayed in bed, reading the 7th volume of Sandman while waiting for my head to clear. It's sort of sad to note that I'll be done with the entire series soon and I can finally understand why it got such rave reviews as a comic.

When Tobie finally woke up, we agreed to just order out for food since we were too lazy to try cooking and ended up with a Shakey's feast. We spent the time watching Volcano High, was a lot better than I expected. I hope to have a full review out later in the week - I got a lot of reviews out for the Geeky Guide yesterday and with luck I'll be able to sustain this momentum for the rest of the year. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

The only thing we have left for the day is this week's shooting of Fandom Live. At times it seems like a bit of a chore when you just think about it but it becomes a totally different experience once we get down there and start shooting, hehe. Seriously, a pretty fun "gig" of sorts even though we don't get paid for it. I just hope that some 20-30 years from now I can look back at these videos and not feel too embarrassed, haha.

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Dogbert comes up with the BEST ideas! LOL