Beyond Dinobot Island

0080D: Live From Laguna

2009-12-26T08:54:52Z

I'm currently sitting at a table outside of the resort house here in Laguna. I have Blacktron, my netbook, set up out here with my SmartBro USB modem hooked up and running well and a San Mig light at my side. The breeze is cool and quite lovely and the weather overall is great. As much as I hate leaving the comfort of the city and all its technological amenities that I've grown (severely) attached to, I have to admit that it's nice to occasionally leave the city like this and semi get away from it all. Given the fact that I am now capable of mobile internet browsing, well, I'm not exactly roughing it, now am I?

Christmas Day was all about eating. Today has been mostly about travel with a generous amount of eating still but now that the travel is over, it's not just time to relax. I wish I could go out of town with friends in this manner soon - it's a fun experience despite the stress related with travel. Then again, I can find something stressful about almost everything, haha. I realize that other than a few company outings and trips to Laiya earlier in the year, I haven't traveled as much as I have in previous years. This has resulted in significant cost-savings for sure, but then I guess even a stressed-out city junkie like me can miss travel, too. I don't think I'm feeling anything like wanderlust to any degree, but I am enjoying being out of town. Perhaps I need to put more effort in travel next year - the SmartBro should help with that.

I just downloaded Jason Mraz's "Selections For Friends", which is a collection of live performance of older songs. Add in the second CD of the limited edition "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" which has similar content, and I have a pretty chill playlist. It's funny how much I've fallen in love with Jason Mraz in recent years, sadly because of a friend who is no longer quite as friendly as we used to be. Ah well, I choose to believe that there's a reason for everything that happens in the life we live on this little ball of dirt and perhaps the loss of such a friend will make sense in the far future. In the meantime, I appreciate his gift to me - a deep love and appreciation for this silken-voiced singer who has a love for hats.

We're only going to be here until tomorrow and many would argue that I should be making the most of things by swimming or getting into some other activity that is more outdoor-ish or perhaps more specific to the area being visited. But then again anyone who has ever traveled with me will know that I'm perfectly happy finding a nice spot to read a book, a place to fire up the netbook to find internet signal or an area that I can explore with a camera. I'm not very sociable - so sue me. I just like exploring new locales in my own way, which often doesn't involve other people. Sure, eventually gathering with whoever else were traveling with later in the evening for drinks and such is fun and I'll be game for that, but the rest of the day will be dedicated to almost solitary exploration of the world around. But hey, that's me.

I definitely need to visit a beach next year. It doesn't have to be during the summer - I just need a chance to reconnect with the sand, get my feet wet and maybe get a bit of a tan as well. 365 days can be a very long span of time - I'm sure we'll figure something out, eh?

Oh Pig, you poor little thing.

0080C: A Good Day of Eating For Both

2009-12-25T15:02:20Z

Instead of traditional birthday greetings, here's a comic for all you December 25 celebrants:

Today has been a pretty lazy Christmas. I'm not complaining, mind you. It's all good.

Today I have been busy with one of several activities. Mostly, I've been here at the dining table with Blacktron set up here, surfing the web and exchanging greetings with friends and family online. I've also been eating, as is traditional come Christmas I suppose, but then that's not a new thing. I just woke up now since I've also been sleeping, enjoying the lazy day. The only new activity this year has been helping Mom cook whether it's frying packaged tocino or chopping lots and lots of tomatoes for fresh salsa. It's been a good day.

I realized today that while we don't actually do the traditional noche buena concept, the non-stop eating is not unique to the holidays. It's just how things are at home - Mom always wants to make sure there's enough food for everyone and given our combined appetites, this means a LOT of food. She started yesterday with Mexican Relish and potato salad. Today she added a second batch of relish, I cooked tocino and Mom also made giniling. Oh, and don't forget the fresh salsa to go with her Tostitos. Plus there have been incidental items like bagels with cream cheese, coffee with chocolate covered biscuits or even some Camembert cheese (although Mom had wanted Brie).

Blacktron has been very helpful in the trip thus far. Beyond making sure that I still remain connected to the online world, it's also helped ensure that my sister is "with us" in a way since she wasn't able to come home for the holidays this year. This has resulted in Blacktron acting as our Skype hub so Mina could sort of be with us for the day. It's funny since we leave it on for hours at a time and we can all be doing our own thing while Mina occasionally joins the conversation. It's not the same as actually having her home, but it sort of helps.

So that's what my Christmas has been like thus far. Simple, yet good. I'm glad everyone liked their presents last night - I was primary gift giver this year, it seems. The real activity seems to be the weekend since we're trekking down to Laguna to celebrate with the rest of family in something akin to a reunion but not quite. There's a pool involved, but I'm sure that I'll be hiding behind Blacktron. It'll be a good first test of Blacktron, hahaha!

Dogbert is so adorable handing out money, hahaha!

0080B: An Alternative Christmas Is Still Christmas

2009-12-24T10:18:06Z

I somehow doubt my text options are going to be good as the Globe network will probably collapse later tonight, so let me get things out a tad early. Merry Christmas to all of my family, friends, co-workers and especially all you geeks out there! You know who you are!

I'm back at the family home in UP Village, still using my netbook Blacktron alongside my Mom's EEE 1005HA and my brother's Compaq Presario C700 (which is the same model laptop that got stolen from me last year). Yeah, it looks like we're having a LAN party or something, but that's just how things are in these tech-enabled times we're living in. My sister, Mina, was unable to come to home this year (which is indeed a major first) and so I've been running Skype for more than 2 hours now just so she can feel like she's just here with us, which is pretty cool. Hooray for internet telephony and all that.

Mom cooked up a batch of Mexican Relish (irony!), although her recipe is slightly different from the one I've been following from Mina. It's good too and I think I might try incorporating some of those techniques in my own version to see how that goes. She's also prepared a rather large batch of potato salad and she said she had plans of making fresh salsa. It seems we're having a Mexican Christmas menu this year, hehe. Oh, that and a fruit salad or something.

It looks like I'm the only one who actually bought presents this year so I guess that's a good thing. A Christmas totally devoid of presents other than cash would somehow be weird, I feel. It can't be helped - we've all been pretty busy and we're all a lot older than before so the time of Santa and more traditional gatherings around the tree are out of the question. But this is still Christmas for me and I still value the time I'll be spending with the family.

For other times, it's good that I have my netbook with me in a WiFi-enabled house, haha!

Again, Merry Christmas everyone!

Well played team, well played. =D

0080A: Avatar Day (Again?)

2009-12-23T16:05:56Z

First, a very Happy Birthday to one half of the Bunnies - Fire! Happy, Happy Birthday, Fire! Glad we got to bump into one another at the Pride March - hope I get to see you two again very soon.

Today was totally whoa. Tiring, fulfilling - in other words great.

The day started with me rushing home from work to wake up Tobie so we could get to SM Mall of Asia bright and early to get tickets for the 10:45am screening of Avatar at the IMAX theater. We had to go all the way South since SM North Edsa's IMAX theater is a LOT smaller than it should be plus I was hoping to get a little Christmas shopping in. We left around 09:00am and got there before the mall opened, so it was just a matter of bumming around for about 10 minutes before the ticket booth opened.

Of course our window shopping had us arriving at the ticket booth after a fair number of people had rushed into the IMAX theater upon opening. I was nervous about what tickets would be available since there were people buying tickets for the last 2 shows tonight, but then I guess I was just being paranoid. P800 later, Tobie and I had tickets with about 15 minutes spare. Given we both hadn't eaten anything that morning, we grabbed popcorn, hotdogs and those Mister Donut Smidgets and then we were all set. The movie was scheduled to start at 10:45am. Given the local theater administration and how late people arrive for such things, we started past 11:00am.

Avatar was a well-done movie for sure, but in terms of story plot it wasn't all that amazing to me. I mean seriously - this is clearly a rehash of Pocahontas and Ferngully and yet it also combines elements from Cameron's previous movies like those power loader style battle suits. Watching it in IMAX 3D was certainly worth it - it was a constant visual feast them teaches you that the purpose of plants, insects and floating seed pods is to remind you that this is a 3D movie by trying to pop out of the screen. Major kudos needs to go out to Sigourney Weaver for reminding us of how kick ass she really is. Tobie and I emerged from the theater a bit dizzy from the nearly 3-hour IMAX 3D bombardment, but it was still all good

After that we started scrambling around the mall to do some last-minute Christmas gift shopping. Given that once again we both had no idea what to buy as gifts for our families, I think we managed things well enough. We also picked up a few things for ourselves, one of the best being a limited edition version of Jason Mraz's We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things that consists of 2 CDs and a DVD! Whee! I was very tempted to get a Transformers ROTF Bludgeon but I decided against it given the crowds at Toy Kingdom at the time. I do have to go on record to say that OMG - Masterpiece Edition Skywarp is SOOO worth the P5,000 they're selling it for! *dies*

After all that got accomplished, we sat down for a very late lunch at TGI Friday's - a sort of early Christmas dinner since we're both going home to our respective families this week for the holidays. We had the Caesar salad and the Mushrooms, Chicken and Mushrooms, which still tasted as good as I remember it but it was clearly not as plentiful as it used to be.

I slept the rest of the day away so here I am, just about to start my day. Sweet, hahaha!

With luck, I won't be perceived as some of the more extreme gift givers here, hehehe...

00809: Dongle Questing

2009-12-22T05:56:44Z

Given that I'll be with my family starting the 24th and in Laguna starting the 26th, what's any good geek to do in order to prepare? But of course! Secure an internet connectivity option while away from the Sietch!

Tobie and I had been talking about getting one of those USB broadband modems ever since Ondoy since that left us without DSL for a few days. With his work highly dependent on internet connectivity and my general geeky sanity also dependent on internet connectivity, it was essential that we eventually get one as a back-up option in case internet goes out. This was also going to be a primary option if ever we should venture out of town so Tobie can continue to get his work done and I can continue to function in general.

Yeah, I know my reasoning is pretty lame to most, but to us hard core geeks, you understand me right? I'm not addicted to the internet!

...I just need it.

I wasn't sure whether to get Globe Tattoo, SmartBro or Sun Cellular, so I did the best thing to help me decided - I tapped the social networks and started a Twitter / Plurk / Facebook discussion poll to sort through the pros and cons of each service. Given my priorities of (1) practicality as a prepaid internet alternative and (2) it's ability to function outside the Metro Manila area, the comments remained very diverse.

One thing that most people agreed on was that Globe Tattoo generally sucked and only worked well in specific areas.

Sun got rave reviews for affordability with its P50 unlimited surfing for a day option and its service performance thus far. What people can't seem to agree on is whether or not Sun works well outside of the city in the further provinces. Some swear it always works for them while others played it safe by only confirming that performance was good as long as you had Sun Cellular signal. I haven't really heard a lot of good things about Sun coverage though.

Then came SmartBro - a lot of folks had a lot of positive things to say about it and were all for it, but what really caught my attention was the fact that a lot of people also testified that it worked well outside of the city. Given this is a chief priority, SmartBro started to sound like a better option more and more.

So finally Tobie and I stepped out to deposit money at the bank and then go look for my dongle. after wasting some time window shopping at Datablitz, we finally walked into Villman to ask about the dongles. Originally the plan was for me to get a SmartBro dongle while Tobie was going to get a Sun dongle but without prompting the sales clerk blurted out that Sun didn't do well in the provinces. I'm serious - he actually specifically mentioned the provinces. Taking this as a powerful sign, I took the SmartBro modem and Tobie opted not to get one in favor of just sharing the SmartBro dongle if ever we did leave town. And that was that.

Does one even call this thing a dongle?

Now I just need to figure out how to reload this thing. It seems the most realistic solution for me is to reload at Fandom Cafe and other such load facilities. I'm hoping there's a way to use the prepaid cards too, but then it seems this option requires a Smart cellular number. Does anyone know if inserting the SIM card into an open line phone unit will allow me to load credits directly into it or will it not count as a valid mobile number? I am so calling customer service later.

But for now, I need to sleep. I'm only up this late since (1) Tobie and I had a nicely yummy lunch at Sbarro's and (2) naturally I wanted to setup the SmartBro software and test out the modem first. So far so good!

This strip appeared on Jayson's birthday. I'd like to think he would have loved it.

00808: Sleepy Sunday

2009-12-21T06:04:50Z

Sunday was a recovery day, as is often the case after a massive party night at Bed. Tobie and I woke up closer to 04:00pm and he already had to prep for his company Christmas party in the South. I couldn't go along, which is understandable since it's still technically a work function, so I opted to make the most of my time at home by catching up on missed internet posts from the past week. Given how busy things were with Jayson's funeral proceedings, we're talking about a LOT of missed internet activity.

So Tobie went off to his party and I started sorting through about three days' worth Facebook posts, and maybe around 2 days of Twitter and Plurk updates as well. I was also organizing a lot of missed downloads from the week in order to bring myself back up to speed, although this only refers to having copies of everything that I was looking for, not necessarily having read and/or watched them. Oh joy. It actually took a better part of the night for me to get through everything and yet I still managed time to (1) cook a pot of munggo so I'd have something to eat and (2) write an LJ entry trying to summarize the wild events of Saturday night. Believe me, it was a LOT harder than it looked to get everything into a post that shared enough detail without becoming scandalous, hahaha!

By the time Tobie had come home, I had fallen asleep in what was originally meant to be a power nap of sorts. Original plans included going out to O Bar to bring Keith there but (1) Keith never answered our calls and (2) Tobie was unable to wake me in turn. So somewhere closer to 02:00am, I finally woke up, far too late to really make our way anyway. Damn you alcohol, you REALLY mess up the day after the drinking, don't you? But don't worry, I still love you!

It had to be the Jager shots. Jager does funny things to your head while assaulting your taste buds. Oh yes, Jager is deliciously evil.

Once awake, Tobie took the time to share all the crazy prizes he got from the party, the best of which (in my opinion) was this cute little piggy planter. It comes with seeds already and it's supposed to grow fairly decently, but quite frankly its appearance alone (plus the insanely funny Chinese-English instructions on the box) made it more than worth it. He had brought home some palabok for me and so I ate that while we finally got around to watching SyFy's Alice.

It was pretty bad though. Tobie thinks it was like Push levels of bad (which is really, really bad) but I'd like to think it was a little better than that. It was just very confused about what it wanted to do and how it wanted its actors to act and how it wanted to related to the original Alice in Wonderland story and possibly confused about whether or not it had a definitely story. Um. Okay, maybe it really was that bad.

By then it was nearly morning and so I set about cooking a major batch of Mexican Relish that will hopefully last the whole day. I normally work with about half a kilo of meat and this time around it was a full kilo, but things started to go bad once I started. First, we finally ran out of gas as I was trying to cook the meat and so I had to stop and wait for the gas delivery to come. When I was finally able to resume cooking, it was only then that I realized that I had accidentally purchased a kilo of Filipino-style tomato sauce, which turns out to not only be sweeter but is also a lot more watery. Ugh. So I was constantly adjusting my ingredients to make up for these shortfalls plus the fact it was the first time I was cooking a batch this big. Thankfully, I managed to pull through despite insufficient green bell peppers to boot and things turned out fairly decently. It wasn't quite my normal relish in terms of consistency, but I think I more or less managed to capture the taste I wanted.

This time around, we watched a better TV movie - Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, which Tobie had yet to watch. I'm glad he enjoyed it despite not necessarily being a fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (yet? *grins*) and it made for a very lovely morning. We were supposed to go to sleep immediately after since it was already past 01:00pm however I realized that I had forgotten that I had brewed a pot of coffee before watching Hogfather. So now I'm here drinking my coffee and got Tobie to join me so he could drink his cup as well and we'll hit up the bank before bed since we're awake anyway.

But I still have work tonight, so boo. This was the reason I was trying to stay up all night as much as possible - the pressures of working the night shift. Oy vei.

I don't think this will help me figure out what to get my family for Christmas, LOL!

00807: A Last Gift From Jayson Perhaps?

2009-12-20T12:28:30Z

It's been a week since Jayson died, and as much as I miss him and wish he was still here with us, I have to admit I feel a LOT better now on so many levels. This is beyond coming to terms with grief - this is Jayson working through all of us to make us better. I think that at the end of the day, Jayson succeeded in more ways that he anticipated. I love you Baby - you did real good.

Yesterday was crazy fun and wild across two events - the department Christmas Party / Team-Building and my return to BED. This entry might get a little long, but I'll do my best to keep it tight.

First the company event. After spending all morning doing last-minute prize shopping for the event, barely getting any sleep and not remembering precisely where the Linden Suites were, I managed to make it to the party fairly early. Carlo and I scrambled to rip off the price tags off all the prizes and mementos. In time, the rest of the team arrived (well, a number of them) and the food came a little later and then the event started in earnest. I felt things were a tad awkward still in the beginning but soon folks from different teams started to mingle better and I think the little party may have achieved some of its goals. After some Magic Sing moments, we finally started the program, gave out the prizes and celebrated the winners, even when most of them didn't attend the party. Then it was off to the next event of the evening.

Tobie picked me up at Ortigas with his Canadian director friend Jordan in tow. Jordan had visited Tobie to hang out and talk over a few beers and we just had to drop him off near P.Burgos on our way to meet up with the rest of the gang. He's a really nice guy and I hope we get to hang out more in January before he leaves the country. Then it was off to Brian's |kitchengod| apartment. Yeah, I know right?

So when Tobie and I arrived, Keith was already there and were having a few beers. We joined them and waited for Ryan to come up and for Chris to arrive as well. Drinks were light, conversation decent and not too awkward and Tobie actually managed to pet Brian's dog, Miguel! Good job Tobie! =D Once everyone was assembled and Tobie and Brian had found time to talk, it was off to Malate to finally hit up BED.

Once there, we met up with Perry and the fun continued on and one. Bobby was there in his Ninoy glasses and Joseph |squishtoy|otherjoseph| was too and later on Kevin and Raf came along. I was really happy how things just went well, everyone was talking to one another at one point of the night or another (and I mean EVERYONE). As much as I hate to sound clinical about it, but you have to admit that you'd think that a night where your current partner and your ex are together is a recipe for disaster, but it didn't. This is why I feel Jayson was somehow with us this weekend - he helped us all see past out differences, let go of a lot of the bitterness and resentment so we could all start trying to be friends again. Well, that and a generous amount of alcohol really helped. Curse Keith and his Jager shots and curse me for enjoying my first Michael in months way too much by having another right after. We were all over the dance floor drinking, laughing, trying to talk despite the music and making utter fools of ourselves, but it was just GREAT.

Some notable quotes from the night include: (1) "I can't feel my face!" (2) "There, there...at least you're still hot." (3) "WP!"

I didn't realize how much I had missed partying and dancing with my friends from before and I'm partly kicking myself for not trying to reach out sooner. Well, I guess that's a lesson to be learned and for now all I can do is try to make it up to everyone and see what can be done to integrate my old life with my new one. I'm thankful I have such amazing friends! Oh life.

This hardly captures everything, but I didn't want to start rambling too much, hehe. I'm still a tad hung over now, enjoyed a few bowls of munggo that I made while I watch One More Chance on Cinema One while waiting for Tobie to get home from his company Christmas party. We just might go out again with Keith tonight, haha! Look out liver!

Oh Pig, original luster is nothing compared to how you shine among friends.

00806: Dashing Off Again

2009-12-19T10:50:06Z

This will be extremely short - I'm running late after all.

The department has a team-building / Christmas Party tonight at the Linden Suites. Tobie and I went through a mad shopping spree this morning to gather all the prizes for the annual awards today. Given that we entered the mall without any idea of what to get and left past 01:00pm with pretty much everything I had set out to purchase, it was pretty impressive. Looks like the two of us combined have some rather mad shopping skills, hehehe.

Later still I'm going to face my past of sorts and return to Bed to celebrate the week with friends. Keith is still in town and deserves a good weekend here in Manila and at the same time I really need to reconnect with old friends and hopefully introduce Tobie to a lot of them. This is all your fault Jayson - hope you appreciate the effort.

Not so sad ever since the funeral. There are still those gloomier moments, but definitely not as heavy as before. Hope that's you I hear whispering to my heart Jase - only you can give me the confidence and the strength to face those particular fears.

Now to finish my coffee and then I'm off! Here's to good nights (I hope!)

00805: A Letter (or Email) to Jayson

2009-12-18T15:42:45Z

Hey Jase,

Tobie recommended that I should try talking to you when I really miss you, so that's what this entry is going to be like. It's not the same of course - what I really want is to hear from you. You know what I mean, right? Tobie says that I just need to listen hard enough or something and I should hear what you would probably say in my head given all the long conversations we've had well until sunrise, and there are times that I do feel like I can hear you. That's it really, huh? A part of you will always live in me and I'm definitely never going to let go of that.

Yesterday we finally made the trek to Bataan, considering how much you always tried to get us to go. It was a little sad knowing that the reason we were going was because we had to finally lay your body to rest and not to hang out with you and stuff, but I guess that's just how things are. Would you believe we actually hired a driver just to go see you? It cost an arm and a leg but it was worth it, baby. We knew we had to be there.

The last viewing wasn't so bad. You re-touched your make-up, which you probably wouldn't have liked, hehe. The first job was better but the touch-up could have used some work, I have to admit. You'd probably kill us all for using your graduation picture in some of the banners, but it was the only photo they could manage in so short a time. Heck, your graduation photos were actually there by your coffin, hehe. It was pretty funny.

Looks like they still tried to celebrate your birthday just like how Tobie, Brian |kitchengod| and I did. There was this awesome banner with your better photos from Facebook there wishing you a very Happy Birthday. I know, I know, you weren't all that excited about turning 28, but it's just a number sweetie - it doesn't matter much. You looked great in the photos - a lot of them were from the time you were living with us at Matilda in 2007, based on my estimates. So yeah, that was your Fitness First period, so you really did look good, hehe. The main photo was one you took in the RCBC Plaza bathroom, haha - you remember that right? You and I were still working at the same office then. Those were good times.

You actually got us to walk in your funeral march - and I thought I was never going to do something like that in my life. We walked you from the memorial chapel to the bigger church there in Balanga, complete with the sun shining high in the sky (*DEATH* as you would say) and cheesy music playing. Oddly enough, both Brian and I weren't able to wear shades so we just had to grin and bear the heat. I wasn't wearing my contacts since I had come from work and Brian had forgotten his in his haste to get to you on time. It was a good walk though, but I bet you were laughing at all of us enduring the afternoon heat for you.

The mass was okay and then it was a much longer walk to the cemetery. It was shadier though, which kind of fit - you would always take the path that was more comfortable, even if it was longer. I got a little weepy when I saw a flower shop and thought about getting you white roses - you know how much my heart leapt when you arrived at that party a few years ago with that ridiculously large bouquet of white roses. That was all you baby, all you.

Brian and I managed to hold things together for most of the day, but the final burial was pretty bad. It broke our hearts when they opened your coffin one last time and Jazz placed your favorite green t-shirt and your MAC powder in the coffin. We all broke down - just a reminder of how many people loved you so much. Baby, you touched so many lives even though you always questioned whether people liked you or even loved you. I hope this finally convinced you of that truth - no more "Pringles" moments please, okay?

He got to drop flowers on your casket before they sealed it off and that was pretty painful. Brian and I were there for you baby, just as you were always there for us. Your mom really made us cry even though we promised not to cry as much as possible. She hugged us to tightly and thanked us for being there for you at the hospital that morning. She thanked us for allowing her to still see you that day even though you weren't conscious. I wish we could have done more for you baby, but I guess we still did a lot.

I guess that's just how it is, huh? It just felt...right to me that Brian and I would be among the people with you in your last moments and again Brian and I needed to be there when we sent you along your journey. I miss you terribly, but I don't feel as sad as I used to. It still hurts in my heart when I think of you and all the good moments we had but then I also feel glad that you lived a pretty full life, never letting any moment be wasted.

And I do have to thank you for helping me and Brian see reason (finally!). We're talking again and trying to become friends again, which I know you always wanted. We may not quite be the old BryRox that you put on a pedestal, but we're still your Bry and your Rox and perhaps through us, some memory of you will live on even stronger. We each have a pretty big chunk of you, I think, and we'll do our best to share these pieces with those who loved you and those you loved in turn.

I spent the day with Brian at the new apartment. I have to admit it really is nice and I wish you could have been with us physically. At the very least, I now have your aviator shades (a gift from your Mom) and so bringing it around with me kind of makes me feel you're with us too. You always looked so good in these shades - did I ever tell you that? They don't fit my head quite so well - you know how wide mine is - but that's okay. They're not for extensive wearing - they're just yet another reminder of you and your life and what you mean to all of us.

We had a (not so) simple omelet for breakfast with some pandesal - just like all those lazy post-Malate breakfasts we'd have at Matilda before. We had some coffee and watched some downloads and even tried to start watching Party Monster, that movie you always loved. Sorry I was too tired to finish it - heck, I don't think we got past 10 minutes. We will set aside time to watch if in order to enjoy something you loved. Just seeing the beginning of the movie kind of tells me already why you liked it. It's very you indeed.

Hay, this is a pretty long letter - I haven't sent you something this long since that time you were in Bataan and I'd email you to check up on you. Hope you have the time to read this - I know you're having a lot of fun up there, wherever you are. We'll do our best to live your lessons and remind people of just how amazing you are. But they don't need much convincing baby - you did that all on your own.

Brian and I promised we'll do our best to visit you once a year (at least) or every time we miss you too much. We'll see if we can arrange for a picnic around your grave - I hear there are plans to get and get your tattoo design on it or something, which would be really cool. We'll take care of your mom as well - she asked us to try and visit her more so she can feel like you're still around. We'll try to visit to help put your stuff in order and see if there are things which we need to hide from your mom, haha. You know exactly what I'm referring to, right? Your brother already got a bit of a shock when he tried to look through your iPhone photos. *HALAKHAK*

Sigh, I miss you so much Jase, but I'm doing a lot better. I guess talking to Brian again helps a lot. We get to celebrate all our good times together - and there are just so many of them. We'll do right by you Jase, I promise you that.

You'd probably say this is all getting too, ma-drama or something, so I guess I need to wrap things up.

Hope you don't mind that we're going to go out tomorrow night - then again, I bet you're expecting us too. I finally go to Bed again with the old crew (and Keith too!) and order a Michael for you and dance like how you showed me. We'll have fun as if you were there and raise our glasses to you and I'll make sure that you have a spot beside me in our usual corner where we can make fun of all the other guys we find weird, hahaha!

I love you Jayson! We all love you. Hope you're okay and having a good time up there.

Mwahugs!

Your Rox.

00804: Happy Birthday Jayson Angeles!

2009-12-16T06:38:24Z

As always, first things first. A very, very, very Happy Birthday greeting goes out to none other than one of the most special, important and amazing people in my life, Jayson |kukuripupu|! Today's your day, Jase, so we better celebrate it properly right? Bring out the beer! Put on your dance shoes! Dress to the nines! Dance like no one's watching! Don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself! Oh yes, today needs to be a day for celebrating and living life for all its worth! Right, Jase? I know that's what you'd want me to do, and I'm really, really trying hard to do precisely that.

My started on an odd note - I got all teary-eyed on the MRT on my way to work. I'm sorry Jase, I know it totally must have looked back and perhaps people might have been staring, but I think I have a reasonable excuse. You see, the portable MP3 player that Tobie has lent to me for use kinda went weird and it first played David Guetta's Baby When The Lights Go Out followed immediately by Moony's Dove. With lyrics like that, who wouldn't want to cry, right? Okay, okay, still bad huh? I'll keep trying harder, Jase, I promise I will.

Tobie was awesome today - he suggested that we meet up for lunch just around midnight to mark your birthday. Better yet, he suggested that we should pick up Brian |kitchengod| too and so we did. We were hoping to drag Ryan out too, but he was busy so it was just the three of us - you would have loved to have seen all of us together at a table I bet. I was nice - we had another heavy dinner at Nemoto (remember this place?) and raised our glasses to you. It almost felt like you were there (I hope you were in the area) and perhaps you'll do something even better next year. Really - give us more time to think about it.

Oh, and I was trying to make a poem for you, just like how you recorded that audio greeting for my birthday (your voice was perfectly fine - honest!) but I guess I'm not quite in the poem-writing mood. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm being all melodramatic and such, but I can't help it baby. I miss you so much, it hurts to think about you not here. But enough about that - here's the haiku. It's not much, but I hope you like it:

Jayson Angeles
Dearest friend and confidant
Love personified

See, short and sweet, but 100% you. Don't say no! This really is you Jase, believe me. This is all you.

I've been trying to figure out what to write in this entry all day and it's been killing me. I mean gosh, how do we celebrate your birthday properly? You always thought of the craziest, sweetest, most creative things to do on our birthdays and other special events, like when you surprised us with that cake from Becky's Kitchen for our sixth anniversary back in 2007 or when you surprised us with that huge bouquet of 60 white roses during our fifth anniversary party. Only you would do things like that for me and Brian - your "BryRox" even if we felt the nickname was a little silly. Ah yes, even when we thought we were on to you, you'd always find a way to surprise us or at the very least make us smile like idiots.

Do you remember your first White Party with us? I know it was still a weird and scary time and we were still becoming better friends, but I hope it was good for you. I know I had fun and it was the first time that anyone had ever gotten a beer for me apart from Brian - it was a really nice gesture and I appreciated it a LOT. You it got better by the next White Party when we really had fun with Perry and enjoyed that ridiculous live mannequin show at Top and Bottom (which is gone now, can you believe it?). Oh, and who can forget the 2007 White Party when Kince |kince13| was in town and we even got to meet Deo! We got so wicked drunk that night and I distinctly remember you losing your shirt at one point in the night (hehe) but it was just fun, fun, fun! I'm so sorry I missed out on celebrating the White Party with you this year but I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise.

And think about New Year's Eve! The first time we ever celebrated New Year sort of together was at the start of 2005, and I have to admit we didn't know each other well enough I probably acted like an idiot. In 2006 I had work but by 2007 we were out partying again and we totally had a blast! I forget if I ever got to thank you for running all the way from Pampanga to join us, but really, THANK YOU! It wouldn't have been the same without you!

And it never will.

There are so many more amazing moments we've shared together over the years like dancing at bed, having a few beers to help you sleep, twiddling with your computer, watching porn together, raising wine glasses together, cleaning up a flooded Matilda yet again, talking into the wee hours of the night, endless chat conversations, and so much more! I wish I could capture everything all over again and tell the world just how much fun we've shared but I don't have enough words or blog space or time. That's how great you are Jase - that's how large an impact on my life you've played

I'm trying to do my best to be happy Jase, honest I am. But you know that it's really hard for all of us, especially Brian and me. We shared so much of our lives together and we've spent hours upon hours talking, chatting and sharing just about everything we could. We all looked out for each other and you kept me and Brian balanced so now that you're gone, the world's just that much scarier. You've touched so many lives, Jase - more than you ever realized. I always told you not to care too much about what other people thought but I know how paranoid we both get so it seems almost moot to tell you not to think. Still, just think about it and take a step back - look at everyone around you now and how much you are loved. Yes Jayson, you loved all of us so much - so freely and honestly - this is your reward! This is your best birthday present ever! Just look into all of our hearts and take a gander at all the love on your Facebook page - so many people are making sure you never forget how much we all love you! So where's the love now, Jase? Don't you see it? Don't you feel it? It's all for you baby!

So here's a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYSON! You know where to find us and we'll always be ready to have a good time with you. The party goes where you go and so does a lot of our happiness and laughter. I'll try to keep smiling whenever I think about you and I'm going to make sure I remember all the great times we shared. I'm going to tell everyone our stories and show then just how GREAT you are and how much you loved everyone around you. You've touched so many lives, but I am most honored that you touched mine.

I miss you so much it hurts and I'd give anything for just another moment with you, but I know you've lived an awesome life so far so I need to learn to live without you to talk to, to lean on, to look to for moral support and cheering up. It's going to be tough, but you know I'll find a way. You'll be in our thoughts and memories but most importantly our hearts. I love you Jayson Aquino Angeles! Keep the party going up there! You'll know that we'll be together some day in the clearing beyond the end of the path. It'll take me a while - hopefully a long while - to catch up, but you know I will. And we'll have so many stories to share and so many things to talk about that we'll get shushed by the choirs of angels because of our incessant geeky conversation. But it won't matter - nothing else matters to me right now Jase beyond knowing you're okay, you're in peace, you're free from pain and that most of all, you're truly, absolutely happy.

Happy Birthday, Jayson! I'll get through this - we all will. Eventually. I promise you that.

MWAHUGS BABY!!!

00803: Moisture for the Dead

2009-12-14T18:16:41Z

It's very rare that I miss out on posting an LJ entry for a day, and it looks like I missed yesterday. It's already 01:00am as I struggle to start this entry, but I feel no regrets - what is inadherence to a silly little OCD pattern as compared to one of the best friends you'll ever have?

Exactly.

I held it together for most of the time that we were there, but started breaking down again when it was just me and Tobie in the car alone. I'm still pretty raw right now and I'm struggling to translate the maelstrom of thoughts, memories and emotions into and entry of sorts - this entry. Some might think this callous or silly, but quite frankly it's one of the main ways that I try to cope with such pivotal events in my life. I don't believe that all it takes is a blog entry to get past such times in our lives, but it has always helped me try to lay things out in a format that I can understand better. Or something like that. So here we go.

Jayson's death has naturally affected a lot of people and many are just finding out about the fact that he's passed on. As a rather online person, I've found myself cascading information to other friends, trying to relay the details of the funeral plans all the while trying to deal with my own grief. It's been a painful yet necessarily process, a very small service that I'm doing to help those who loved Jayson to find out and perhaps pay their respects in time. With the wake being held in Pampanga, doing so isn't an easy feat and most have started to flood his Facebook Wall with kind words, treasured memories and the best of intentions as he moves on to the next phase of existence.

Photo above painstakingly edited by Jayson

The day also found me and Tobie cementing plans to make the journey north to pay our respects for Jase. He was a good friend to all of us and very important in more ways than one and this was the least we could do to show how much he meant to us. I reached out to coordinate with a few others so they could hitch with us on the long trip - the longest that Tobie had ever driven to a place that none of us had ever really been to before. It took a while for all of us to gather at SM Cubao but once assembled, we were off on a new adventure. With very limited Google Maps information and a variety of text messages with different directions, landmarks and details of where to find the venue, we made the journey to see our friend Jayson off on his own journey. It took a fair amount of time, although not the initial 3+ hours we had feared but eventually we arrived at the house in Pampanga, the sun already long gone from the sky.

We were greeted by Jayson's sister Jazz along with their parents and were eventually led to see his body. This has always been a major moment of stress / dread for me in every funeral that I've ever attended. There's something about that moment when you finally peer over the edge of the casket to see one you love all made up and ready to be sent on his final journey. I think it felt all the more scary for me this time around since my mind was shuffling through images of his happiest moments alive and those darker moments in the emergency room. My hands could remember the feel of the sweat on his arm as he struggled to live, his chest heaving every time we pumped air into his mouth. I want to keep the image of my happy, smiling, loving friend in my mind and yet I also find myself remembering that Sunday morning, remembering how hard we all wanted him to fight this, to stay with us. And now he's just a body in a box - made up well, yes, but still just a body. His hair looked great - my thanks to whoever took the time to fix it the way he liked it. It was also nice to note he was in a suit instead of a barong - I don't know why, but it just felt better - somehow more him.

Oh gods I'm crying again.

I held onto Brian |kitchengod| as we stared at his body, Tobie standing a few steps behind. Jayson was very dear to both of us - the relationship the three of us shared defied definition with mere words. Jayson was the glue that held us together as friends, the kind and loving young man who wore his heart on his sleeve and trusted enough to pour out his thoughts and emotions to both of us. I struggled to hold back the tears as I wanted to be strong for Brian and our other friends, but even I could only manage so much. I know the body wasn't quite Jayson anymore - I had felt something similar on the first night of the wake of my father back in 2007. And yet, it didn't feel as light either - something still felt wrong to me and I couldn't quite place it. It's something I'm still thinking about and will try to address better later.

The family brought us out to eat and it took me a while to get myself to start. Of course there was really great tasting fish, and so that quickly broke past my initial awkwardness and soon we were being entertained by Jayson's mom, just telling random stories and trying to keep the mood light for everyone. It's what she had always done for Jayson in life and what she promised to continue to do despite his passing - his wake didn't have to be a completely sad affair after all. It was funny how the conversation ended up with the strangest topics like proper nail care and how she managed to get hers so long. Or about her need to wear make-up all the time since Jayson would always remind her to put some on so she'd look her best. Other family members joined in the conversation fairly quickly and as that progressed, I could see glimpses of Jayson in everyone as they talked. Maybe it was the way they put sentences together or perhaps how sometimes they'd grasp for the right word just like Jase did or a million other things. I felt honored to see a very small part of the loving home environment that shaped this young man that I proudly all friend but at the same time reminded me that he was gone.

I hate sounding selfish, but I guess it's inevitable in these situations. I can't help but feel angry that he's been taken so soon - that this rare and special friend that I love so much is already gone. Who is going to keep me company into the wee hours of the night at work now? Who can I talk to about everything from computer hacks to porn stars? Where is the man who I could bare my soul to and who continually honored me by sharing his with me in turn? Who was going to put his arm around me in a crowded bar, raise his bottle as a toast and wash away ally my insecurities about how I look, how I dance and a million other things and help me to simply have fun? I keep thinking about these things and so many others and find myself buckling ever so slightly under the weight of this loss.

The rest of the night was difficult, but not overly so. We continued to share stories and tried to enjoy the good cheer Jayson's mom was trying to share. But then time and again one of us would break down a bit and start crying. At one point in the night, a few of us had separated to console one another as the emotions just got too heavy. Eventually Jayson's mom found us huddled by the car and she went on to hug us, try to make us feel better, and also impart her own words of wisdom. I don't even know if it's right of me to share the details, but what I will document is how much she wanted Jase to know she loved him completely - both she and his dad did. No judgment. No disapproval. Just love because he was their son and he more than deserved all the love he could get. She reminded us to make sure we reminded our own parents about our love for them, to get past any bitterness and keep talking to them. Otherwise we might find ourselves without further opportunity to say what we always wanted to say. She loved him so much - we all did...Do. Always will.

When the time for stupid card games was past and it was getting pretty late, we had to say our farewells and make our way back to the city. We visited Jayson one more time and again I barely held back the tears as we all whispered our best wishes for him in the silence of our hearts. Then we left and made our way back.

As I stared at Jayson's body, I couldn't help but feel like...he wanted me to do something. It's hard to explain and I'm sure many people have said this time and time again, but it's the best way that I can put things into words. But that's precisely it - I feel like Jayson is asking me to do one more thing, or complete a number of tasks or something. I've given so much of my life to him even in such a short span of half a decade but I know I'd give him the world and more if he asked. I want to finish whatever it is he's left behind, but I don't know where to start. I don't know what he wants - what he NEEDS from me. I don't mean to sound arrogant in writing this down, as if I'm the only one who knew Jayson well enough to feel this way. But it's just how I feel - perhaps it's a natural consequence of the very close friendship we maintained. I always tried to be there for him when he needed me and he always tried to do the same for me. I feel that calling right now - I feel he needs me. I want to be there for him but I don't know how or what to do. It pains me and pulls at my deepest core, at my heart of hearts.

I miss you so much Jayson. I'll do you proud and live my life to the fullest as much as you tried to do. I'll do my best to get past this and continue be as good and loving a friend to others as you were to me. But it's so hard right now and I don't know where to begin. I can bottle all this up for stretches of time to keep up with normal life but I can't control when it's all going to come bubbling to the surface. Jayson, I'm always going to need you in my life and I'll try to keep your memory strong in my head. I'll always have a drink for you and I'll save a dance for you.

Oh gods, we never got to watch the Glee-themed drag shows at O Bar together! I never got to have you as a guest at the Sietch and I never got to try cooking for you. I just want to hold you close to me again, to hug you tightly and be strong for you. I haven't even shown you Torchlight and Diablo III isn't out yet! I want to see you find the love you always wanted - always deserved and I want to do a million other things with you. I want to try and find every single chat conversation we ever had, reconstruct every lost chat archive and save it in memory of you. I want to capture every status message we posted that only the two of us knew what they really meant. I want to recover every single text message exchange, every phone call. I want to find the memories of every single conversation we had. As deep as our friendship is despite the short period of time it had to grow and the rare chances we got to see one another in recent times, I know there was just so much more for us together. Fun to be had. Memories to be created. Stories to be shared. A life to be lived to the fullest.

I'll get through this - I always do. But it's going to be harder without you, I admit that. I'm strong but not quite as strong as I could be with you cheering me on. We were great, no AMAZING together. We gave each other strength and we shared each other's pain. You're my friend, my brother, part of me - everything. We are so much more than friends - we're everything that friends could ever be! I don't know what the future is going to be like without you laughing, you twiddling with some gadget again, offering me a beer, encouraging me to dance and probably make a fool of myself. I'm going to miss so much - our long chats that last until the sun rises, the rare times we get to see each other, the way you tell three different stories at the same time, the way you pout your lips when you don't know what to say.

I'm going to miss you Jayson Angeles. So, so, so much. I'll get past this but I'll always miss you and wish things were different. See that photo above? I'm holding on to you Jase - I'm always going to have a warm hug for you. I'll always be there to listen to everything you need to say and will do so openly and without judgment. I'll always be ready to do my best to find the words you need, to guide you in terms of the next things to do. I am always here for you and you know that you'll always own a part of my heart, my life, my soul.

Fare thee well my friend in this next great journey. The tears I shed burn but they are freely given to honor your memory. I waste water by giving moisture to the dead, but you are worth every drop.

I am a friend of Jayson Angles.

And I always will be.

I love you.

00802: Jayson Angeles (1981 - 2009)

2009-12-13T13:04:34Z

Jayson Aquino Angeles died at 01:18pm today due to cardiac arrest. He was going to turn 28 on the 16th.

Jayson was a very important person to me and to many others. I'm going to miss him terribly. This is as close to a eulogy that I'm going to get, I suppose and already I fear even my abilities as a word smith will fail me. But to honor his memory in the best way that I can, I know I need to do this.

I met Jayson under the most unusual of circumstances - he was a new friend Brian |kitchengod| had made online and they had started hanging out for a bit. They were friends before I finally got to know him more and oddly enough we hit it off rather well - a LOT better than I had ever expected. We fast became friends despite the circumstances of that period (it was rather turbulent for me in more ways that one and it was probably even worse for him) and I found myself talking to him more and more. Clubbing nights were a lot more fun with him along since he'd always make sure to stay with me when everyone else was off dancing and we'd have fun making fun of everyone else from our corner of the dance floor. He'd always get me to dance and is one of the few people who ever tried to drag me up to the ledge at Bed (and succeeded). Whenever I hear the song Shining Star by Get Far, I'll always remember having my arm around Jayson's shoulder with his around mine and we'd be drinking and dancing to the beat.

We were techie friends and would geek out about this and that. We'd share torrents and tips and tricks in tweaking the latest version of Windows or the newest Google app. We liked the same kind of guys and would have seemingly mindless nights talking about our favorite actors, models and even porn. Jayson and I just had so much in common that we could talk about just around anything.

But beyond the friendship, there was so much more than I could put into words. Besides the fun stuff, we'd talk about our life struggles, our challenges with relationships and hopes for future careers. Jayson was my confidant and I was his - we shared our most sacred secrets and our heart of hearts. I knew that if everything went bad, he'd be there for me just as much as I would always be there for him. I never thought that this would happen had I just met Jayson off the street, but it did. And my life was forever changed because of him - definitely for the better.

Even when Brian and I broke up this year, Jayson was the one who came in and tried to keep us talking in order to salvage the friendship. I know things could have gone a lot worse had he not been there for both of us and I only hope I do him proud in this regard somehow. His goal was a rather lofty one, but a worthy one since he wanted to make sure the three of us - Brian, Jayson and me - would always be a trio of our own. Jayson gave so much of himself every single time in whatever he did.

He was a man who was never afraid to open his heart to others and to put things on the line. Yes, he got burned because of this time and time again but he never stopped trying - he'd never give up. I did my best to be there for him everything he was hurt as he was always there for me. As much as I wish that he could have found someone who would truly love him as he loved us all, even I have to admit that a selfish part of me always wanted to keep him for myself. That's how amazing a friend he was to all of us - he was the kind of guy who would make you feel like the most important person in the universe and didn't expect anything in return. That kind of loving is rare and I did my best every time to show my own love and affection for him in return.

Jayson was many things to many people - a friend, a brother, a son - what have you. He was important to all of us and he will be sorely missed.

In the wee hours of December 13, I found myself wanting to change my Facebook profile photo. I changed it to a photo of Jayson, Deo and myself. It was a recent photo and one of the rare times that I had managed to see him in recent months. I don't know why I chose this photo in particular, but I did. I guess now I know.

I will always remember the smiling, laughing Jayson in my mind in celebration of life. That's what he taught us - to find the joy in life, to celebrate every day - to love freely. We love you and miss you Jayson.

You'll always have a place in my heart.

00801: Gaming Is Still A Social Activity

2009-12-12T15:34:11Z

What is up with today? I feel like so many people have been inviting me out today at the last minute. An officemate had plans of celebrating her birthday at Red Box earlier. A high school friend checked if I'd be in the Makati area tonight since he would be too. An online friend of mine just asked me if I'd be in Malate. Oh, and a client has flown in today and was also asking if I was hitting the clubs tonight. Weird - where were all of you when I wasn't doing anything on weekends? Unfortunately, today is a busy day - a Saturday gaming night. Oh yes, we haven't had one of these games in a while.

Tonight's group is different from what has become our usual Sunday group. This time around it's Sam and Aldwin with the currently visiting Marco guest-staring as a one-shot character that will probably turn into an NPC later on. I'm really excited about this game since we'll be playing Aeon/Trinity, which is a science fiction gaming universe created by White Wolf. So naturally as a science fiction geek, I'm pretty keen on the gaming potential of this series even though it has already been discontinued in the public market. This time around my character has the power of Electrokinesis with Technokinesis as my primary specialization with initial dots in Electromanipulation and Photokinesis. So this means that I can talk to machines more or less and I have initial abilities to generate a weak electric burst or just play with the lights. Yay.

Oh crap, the game is starting and I'm still writing this entry. And my flaw just forced me into an action I was trying to resist. Damn it.

This weekend promises to be geeky and gaming rich. There's the Trinity game tonight and tomorrow it's back to the usual Changeling / Promethean game. This is probably going to be the last game of the year - the next few weekends promise to be rather busy one way or another, so it becomes more prudent to avoid scheduling games during this period. But damn, it's going to be a long wait until the next gaming session. Boo.

We could explore the possibility of playing via Google Wave over the "break", although there's a fair amount of learning involved in transitioning to that gaming mode. Still, it's a pretty interesting possibility to explore, if only to get through the next few weeks without feeling the itch of gaming too much, haha. Yes, this is definitely an addiction of a sort.

And now I need to get back to the game.

Oh Pig. This strip has horrible puns, and yet I can't stop reading! LOL

00800: Home Late, Short Entry

2009-12-11T05:37:55Z

Ooh, today's entry number is perfectly symmetrical. Squee!

Gods, I got home pretty late today. I thought I had adjusted enough by getting to work past 11:00pm. I wasn't ready to get home close to 11:00am, but then that's work for you. You can never really predict what time you're going to end up leaving the office once you stop being the agent. That's one of the biggest benefit of staff-level positions. Sure, you theoretically don't get as well compensated as managers and the like from a base pay perspective, but at least you have a definite start and end to your day. Once you leave the floor and become as member of the support team, you really start to feel the pinch of being a monthly-salaried employee versus being someone who might theoretically be paid hourly or something, not that hourly pay is common in this country.

My day dragged out because of several back-to-back meetings that made the end of my work shift rather interesting. I don't necessarily think a lot of progress was made - I just know that they were interesting, haha. It's not necessarily a primary work metric, but then that's the best way that I can describe things. It's the only way to explain why I didn't fall asleep waiting for these various sessions to finish, after all. But that least that's over with.

Tobie isn't at the Sietch today, although normally he is because Friday is the coding day for his car. He's off attending a friend's wedding today and that triggered some wedding-related introspection on his part. I was toying with posting my own thoughts on the matter, but then my brain isn't cooperating with me too much right now. At least I have the music from this week's Glee to keep me company plus a humble can of tuna for lunch. Of course I spruced it up with rosemary, oregano and thyme, but it's still a can of tuna in its heart of hearts. Aww.

I still have work tonight, but I think I'll go in a little later after today's lengthy shift. I really want to play more Torchlight, but I better not push it.

I'm so glad I'm not a breeder, haha!

0079F: Not Sick Enough To Stop Playing Torchlight

2009-12-10T06:12:15Z

I'm not running a fever, but I'm definitely sick. What started out as just feeling hoarse after all the fun I had last Saturday has turned into gunk building up in my throat, coughing and now my voice partly going away. I sound like a stereotypical Jewish mother or something - have me shout "Howard" and you'll understand what I mean. I'm still reporting for work and I still feel well enough to still cook meals here at the Sietch, so it's not that bad. Tobie seems a lot harder hit, assuming we're suffering the same illness. Poor thing.

Work was decent, but rather tiring, and I know that's more due to my physical condition compared to anything else. At least I'm down to two more days in the work week. Yay.

Man, Torchlight is deceptively addicting. It taps into that part of your brain that just jumped for joy when Diablo first came out and thus you find yourself wanting to go down one more level before calling it quits. I started playing after breakfast, which was around 09:30am. I promised myself that it was just to gain a few more levels, better refine the build of my character and naturally have some monster killing fun. Then my Alchemist leveled up enough to get Ember Lance and then I was trapped. It's hard to describe the mindless joy of having a character that can shoot a laser out of his hand. Beyond that, you can actually keep the laser going in a steady beam to either kill larger bosses or to sweep across the battlefield in order to kill all the minions.

Of course this divergence into direct damage spells kind of goes against my summoner build that I initially envisioned. I've already gotten my Pet Mastery up to level 10 and I have a lot of skill points invested in passive activities that boost my critical hit rate and my offensive spell damage. I haven't invested in additional Nether Imps, although it's tempting. They're almost as fun as the Druid's Ravens in Diablo II, but a lot cuter. I know, without an army of imps, I don't look like much of a summoner with just my pet and my golem. But humor me for now - I'm still trying to build him up to a respectable level. As long as he can meaningful contribute to the battle alongside the summonlings, then it works for me.

Torchlight is a great way to pass the time until Diablo III is finally released and remains to be a great stress reliever. I shall play more...tomorrow.

Oh geek humor, why do you amuse me so? =P

0079E: I Hope This Still Makes Sense

2009-12-09T05:16:22Z

Oooh - Google Chrome now has extensions! Shiny! So far, My favorite extensions are Google Alerter, which is a multi-app notification gadget for Gmail, Reader, Wave and Voice, Chromed Bird, which is a Twitter client similar to how TwitterFox was in the beginning before Echofon and ChromeMilk, which is a handy way to get your Remember the Milk to-do list in a drop-down menu near the address bar. I also have Xmarks for syncing bookmarks but this is the alpha release of the extension and it has some sync issues here and there. Overall, the extensions are definitely in a very early stage and lack many customizable options, but then that might be a good thing if they help ensure the continued speed of Chrome. With this addition, I'm pretty much a Chrome user but I'll still need Firefox for Zemanta...unless they have an extension for that too. Time to check...OMG! There is one! Must test it now!

Sorry, I probably shouldn't have started this entry with Google geekery. So for the rest of you that are still reading this entry, let's move on right along, shall we?

I currently have Alice on my mind. SyFy recently released a new mini-series called Alice, as based on the Lewis Carroll books. However they opted to give the fantasy story a more science fiction edge, thus telling the classic tale with a slightly different spin on things. I can't wait to watch it, but then given how long it is, I probably have to wait for the weekend. Now add in the fact that Tobie never got to see the Alice and Wonderland mini-series that Hallmark released a few years back, it only made sense to download that version as well. That one was a lot more faithful to the original book in terms of a lot of the imagery and perhaps the general insanity of the population. So now I find myself needing to schedule out an Alice day (or night) of sorts when Tobie and enjoy both versions of the series. If I get bonkers enough, we can always add the Disney version to the viewing queue. Oh what fun.

Today was quite the cooking morning. As a change of pace from all the red meat that we've been having, I decided to finally try my hand at cooking these dried squid thingies we bought at the grocery last time. Tobie had managed to get some instructions from his mom about cooking them, so it was just up to me to translate those instructions into action. To go along with the squid, I l also opted to fry some danggit given the similarity of their cooking approaches. And so it began as a simple experiment in cooking and ended up being pretty good if I do say so myself. The only challenge was just how quick both the squid and the danggit get overcooked in a hot pan of oil. As much as I did my best to watch all of them fry, the speed of some of the pieces of fish and squid got in the way and so I ended up focusing on that. The Sietch got pretty smoky after that but it wasn't enough to trigger the fire alarm or something. Yay for ventilation!

I'm also getting a lot better at cooking a scrambled egg / omelet. I still get bits and pieces remaining on the pan or even total egg collapse when it can't support its own weight. I've also learned to grate quick melt cheese over the eggs, giving them a nice cheesy taste underneath it all. Again, yay for experimentation!

Oh, and yesterday was National Lesbian Day. Gotta mark that, too!

This entry was definitely not one of my more coherent ones. It has gotten a bit too stream-of-consciousness at the end of things, hehe. I blame the weather and my general feelings of unwellness that I'm still experiencing. My throat still feels all gummy - yech!

You should always listen to the warnings of adults, hehe

0079D: Ribbit, Ribbit

2009-12-08T11:11:00Z

First up, Happy Birthday greetings are warranted for both surfer geek Ton and longtime LJ friend Carlo! Happy Birthday to both of you! When do we geek out / party? (Choose one as appropriate, hehe)

Today also happens to be National Lesbian Day! Cheers to all my like-minded lesbian friends out there - hope you found your own ways to celebrate today!

There's something nasty living in my throat starting this week - whether it's a frog or a feline hairball, I've yet to decide yet. All I know is that I'm not feeling 100% and I'm probably going to get sick soon. Just in time for the holidays, right? No signs of fever yet or heavier coughing - just the extra gooey, gumminess feeling in my throat, and a bit of pain when I try to clear it. I'll continue to monitor my symptoms until I start observing any changes. I really don't need to get sick anytime soon. Please? The sudden dip in temperature is probably what's pushing this along. I mean seriously, you know when it's getting pretty bad when it's colder outside your air-conditioned office building throughout most of the night.

Work was...eventful. You'd think that things would be somewhat lighter the first regular working day after the company Christmas party, but no dice. Here's to another week!

I'm so behind on my blogging for the Geeky Guide - damn you December! Still, I'll get back on that blogging horse soon enough and bring the blog back into order. Honestly, I will. This will mean needing to put aside Torchlight to a limited degree and once again devoting a fair amount of time to preparing a bank of pre-written entries scheduled for publishing throughout the weeks to come. It shouldn't be too hard...unless more parties and events come my way, which seems almost inevitable for the end of the year. Oh joy.

I'm so excited to getting around to watching SyFy's Alice, but naturally that's going to take a fair amount of time. Part I aired last Sunday and thankfully Part II just posted today! Whee! Go torrents, go! In the meantime, there's always the latest episode of The Big Bang theory to keep me company.

Now to get back to more Geeky Guide blogging while cooking dinner. Go, go multitask!

Gods, I hate those Facebook suggestions, too!

0079C: After the Partying, It's Time to Cuddle

2009-12-07T12:14:29Z

Yesterday was definitely a much-needed recovery day. After all of the events of Saturday, rest was certainly more than just called for and Tobie and I embraced that reality whole-heartedly. I know we woke up sometime in the afternoon after somehow finishing a quick McDonald's breakfast and barely getting out of our party clothes. My head was still a tad woozy but at least I didn't feel the urge to through up or anything like that. It wasn't anything that lots of water and some coffee on the side couldn't fix, that's for sure. Well that and a sizable pot of Mexican Relish that Tobie and I devoured for lunch.

We spent the rest of the day pretty much just goofing off online, watching the occasional TV series or movie and getting some Torchlight time in. I finally got around to testing it on Blacktron, my netbook, and fair enough the game was in fact able to work. Performance was rather decent and I felt the lagging between clicks was a tad significant so in the end I returned to the desktop to play Torchlight in its fully-featured glory. It's quite the pretty game, that's for sure and it's something that any Diablo fan should play in order not to go crazy waiting for Diablo III to come out sometime next year...hopefully.

Other than that, I was able to get a lot of DVDs burned, mainly back-ups of Justice League (Unlimited), Spiral Zone, Being Human, The Black Adder, Neverwhere, The Storyteller, The Crystal Maze and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I would have burned a lot more but our installation of Nero seems to be acting up and kept erroring out at the end of each disc. I've wasted about 10 DVDs already so Tobie switched tracks and looked for another burning program. It worked decently enough although not necessarily as fast.

Yesterday we finally got around to watching Fido, which was disturbing yet hilarious at the same time. We also watched the first part of Children of Dune (yay James McAvoy!)

Yeah, it was a nice, simple end to the weekend.

My minor achievements today: cooking a decent mushroom and cheese omelet that didn't collapse on me when I tried to flip it and the fact that I finally managed to mend the seam of my pants. Yay domestication!

Awww, gamer geek wedding vows! One day it'll be my turn...I hope.

0079B: First Pride March

2009-12-06T13:46:04Z

Today's the birthday of two major geek friends - Beejay and Gigi! Happy Birthday to both of you! May you Live Long and Prosper or May the Force Be With You (as appropriate).

Yesterday was ridiculously busy but amazing fun and fulfilling at the same time! I think it's only now that I've fully recovered from all the alcohol I drank last night and thus I should be able to manage a decent accounting of the night's events. I think. This is going to be a long entry.

The day started with a quick nap after a light breakfast, then it was off to Malate for Tobie and me. We were a tad later than planned in terms of our departure plus the streets seemed to be filled with holiday shoppers on the road, so the traffic situation was pretty bad. As the minutes past, Tobie and I became more and more worried that we were going to miss our first-ever Pride March. Oh noes! Still, we pushed on and remained focused on the goal of getting there in time for the march proper at 05:00pm.

We arrived in the Malate area just past five so Tobie had me get down and look for our friends Nico, Sam and Ian on foot while he tried to find parking. I ran off to Remedios Circle and began to panic - I couldn't find the registration table! I bumped into Nono and his Pink Rockers group and he told me that the registration folks had already packed up given the parade was already starting. I continued my search for our other friends and eventually bumped into Sam and Ian who were standing together with Ang Ladlad. They just had me join them and not fuss over the registration and I continued to frantically try to coordinate with Nico where we were - but we were already marching! Then Tobie called to let me know that he had found Nico but had no idea where we were. Again I tried giving our approximate location and direction as our group made steady progress towards Roxas.

Then I finally got to see the Haters.

Along the sides of the road were members of some religious group with placards, T-shirts and very angry shouts, calling for us to repent for our sins and constantly telling us that God loved us but not our sin. Great. Ian decided to have some fun with them by standing next to the various Haters with his make-shift posters that either read "He's Gay <--" or "Power Bottom <--". Of course it was quite a hoot and we all had fun taking photos of Ian next to various protesters, all the while wishing them a Happy Pride or admonishing them to learn to understand their Bibles before they asked us to read it.

Another call from Tobie and it turned out that they had somehow overshot our group. We eventually reunited as we walked down Roxas and then we were one big happy group. Tobie and I were in our black Star Trek movie shirts just to have fun by wearing something matching, so we made for an interesting site amongst the other colorful queers. The march brought us to Gil Puyat, then down to Taft and finally into Nakpil. All the while we'd encounter the same group of Haters who would leapfrog across the parade path to greet us whenever we passed. The marchers remained in high spirits the whole time and some tired flirting with some of the theoretically cuter Haters by asking for their numbers and such, all of which clearly bothered some of them. At one point, we were in a pretty quiet area and started to sing Lady GaGa's Bad Romance and started to hear a bunch of other queers singing along.

Finally at Orosa, the parade ended and the formal program began. Tobie and I fell in love with these rainbow rings formed as a pendant and so we bought one for each of us to mark our first Pride March. They were obviously over-priced, but it didn't matter. As the program began, I also managed to bump into Fire and then Barbie before we had to dash off to our next events. I had a company Christmas party to deal with while Tobie still had to finish his work for the day. But still, we did promise ourselves that this would be the first of many Pride Marches that we'd participate in and with luck this was the start of a brand new tradition for us.
The company Christmas Party at the Mega Tent was pretty much almost entirely devoted to the various Christmas presentations of the different campaigns. With 9 different departments / LOBs presenting, you know that's a major time-eater that just took over the night. I arrived at the venue just in time to catch the first presentation and since I was a manager, I was fortunate enough to have food served to me as a set rather than deal with the ridiculously long lines for the buffet tables. I juggled eating (I was famished after the march), watching the presentations, talking to other managers and documenting the whole thing with our camera all throughout the night. The presetations were hilarious and really, really well done given all the various impersonations of Lady GaGa, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, The JabbaWockeeZ, The Wonder Girls and even Hayden Kho! I can't imagine how the judges managed to pick a winner given all the presentations were just totally insane, it was fun beyond belief.

We also had our first-ever Employee of the Year Awards per department and a big congrats has to go out to Nestor for winning for the TQD group! Beyond that, there was another minor celebration of employees who had stayed with the company for more than 5 years which mainly consisted of our names being flashed on the big screen and us being asked to go up on stage, smile for photos and pose with our Country Manager. Some tried chanting for a bonus, but as expected this didn't get anywhere. There were also lots of raffle prizes given out during the night but I think my being a manager now automatically disqualifies me from winning anything. Boo.

From there, it was back to Malate with Perry and Von (via his very yellow car). Tobie was still finishing work so we ended up hanging out in the street watching the weird parlor games on stage. Given the sponsors were makers of lubricant and condoms, you can imagine the games were pretty...interesting. Eventually I had Perry and Von go on to Bed as planned since at least I had seen Fritz on my way to withdraw money and the waiters at O Bar were already prepared to assist me to the VIP area and to take my drink orders. Yay life.

Eventually Tobie arrived and we found out from Fritz that there was a free rapid HIV testing booth set up just outside O Bar. As much as the notion was scary, it was scarier not knowing so Tobie and I decided to do the responsible thing and finally get ourselves tested. Neither of us had ever done this before so I have to admit that it was a little scary, but definitely something I was sure about doing. It took about 15-20 minutes for the results and we spent most of that time answering this lengthy survey about our sexual habits and our knowledge of HIV. Finally the results were there and we were pulled to a side to discuss things. As much as this felt scary, my knowledge of such things reminded me that they'll always call you aside whether your negative or postiive, so that kept me from panicing as we found a quieter place on the busy street and went through the mandatory speech about HIV and responsible sex. We had opted to hear the news together rather than one at a time and so it was a tad confusing later on when the guy turned to me and said "You're negative, congrats!" and then continued with his speech. As much as I felt relieved, Tobie got a little nervous since he thought the guy was only referring to me. When he already got to the part where he hands us informational fliers, Tobie just had to confirm that the negative pronouncement was for both of us, which was pretty funny when you think about it in hindsight.

The rest of the night was a blur as more and more of our friends arrived, many of whom didn't even know there had been a Pride March earlier that day. We were definitely on a high for finally facing the dark beast in everyone sexually active person's life when you finally get tested for HIV and that really helped make the night allthe more special. It was our first Pride March ever and our first HIV test, something we'll definitely get into the habit of doing at least every 6 months from now on. I don't trust myself to remember everyone who was there eventually - there were just so many of us plus the generous amount of beer I decided to have that night along with the Kamikaze that Tom had ordered and that blasted pitcher of Bailey's that Arvin (I think that what his name was) kept offering everyone. It tasted really good though.

So there, that was my Saturday. In a nutshell, I just upgraded my life experience bar by a notch or two and found even more reasons to be happy and more importantly proud to be the gay man that I am. It's hard to top something like that and I don't think I'll even try to do that. I'll just wait for life to surprise me with bigger and better things, as it is often want to do.

OMG, this sounds way too much like work! LOL

0079A: Saturday Plans

2009-12-05T02:54:35Z

I just had a nice quick breakfast with Tobie. I had to supplement with rice, but we just had some corned beef with onions and potatoes and some canned Bicol Express with tuna flakes. Tobie added some lettuce and arugula on the side and we matched this all with freshly brewed coffee and some watermelon-flavored Fit and Right.

I haven't slept since shift but will hit the sack shortly. There's a lot happening today.

First there's the Pride March today. Registration starts at 03:00pm and the actual March is at 05:00pm. I certainly hope we make it in time. If we do make it and we get to march, this will be the first-ever Pride March for both of us. I feel sort of ashamed saying that, but it's true! But It's time to change that...

After that, it's my company Christmas party over at the Mega Tent in Ortigas. Technically registration starts as early as 04:00pm but I'm estimating dinner will be around 07:00pm and the actual program closer to 08:00pm. With luck I'll still make it to the performances and maybe get a small shot at the raffle.

Then we're probably going to hit Malate in the evening to join the post-Pride festivities, meet up with friends at O Bar and see what surprise Mon is supposed to have in store for the gang. I have to admit that I I'm curious about it.

Well, that's it. Enough blogging - time for sleeping!

Same goal, but the process itself just gets more and more complicated. Ah life.

00799: Just a Little Further...

2009-12-04T13:43:24Z

Today's the birthday of one of my more unique classmates from high school, Allan! Happy Birthday Allan! Try to go easy on the...well...you know. =P

This has been a surprisingly busy work week, but not in the typical task-related sense. It's not just about a lot of tasks to deal with this time around - it's more about all the interpersonal interactions I had to get involved in and all the little exercises of sizing up and understanding people to boot. I don't claim to be a genius in this area, but I do believe I'm still rather good at it. Call it sheer intuition or a knack for reading people, I have come to believe that I do have a bit more aptitude in this area than most. There are still more challenges for me to face wherein this skill is going to be absolutely necessary, but of course I do look forward to the exercise. It's like solving a complicated puzzle of sorts, when you really get down to it.

Beyond work, today seems to have mostly been about sleeping or getting enough rest.

Originally, Tobie and I had plans to head out to the mall once they opened this morning, pick up more DVDs so we can continue backing up data to disc and maybe get something nice to eat for brunch. Instead, we both ended up falling asleep a little after nine and so plans pretty much fizzled after that.

When we did wake up in the early evening, we opted to try again and thus stepped out, enjoyed a nice heavy dinner at Mexicali and then went around the Cyberzone area of SM Cubao. The primary goal was to buy DVDs at CD-R King and given how long we had to wait before being served, we ended up getting a full stack of 50 DVDs to minimize the need for additional trips in the future. Of course given the sheer length of time that we were there, I ended up looking at all the displays and eventually deciding to get one of those cooling pads for Blacktron. It's a pretty decent one that's a little wider than my netbook but only about two-thirds as wide. It now has Blacktron at a better ventilated angle and it has two fans trying to create some sense of circulation under it. They're pretty silent and I had to double-check they were running at all and so thus far I'm pretty happy the purchase. I'm still trying to figure out the best angle for me to position my hands and such since thus far it's slightly awkward and I'm beginning to feel a slight pain in my left wrist. I definitely need to work on that.

Oh, and I picked up a Genius notebook optical mouse at Octagon. I'm not quite ready to trust CD-R for peripherals like that.

One more day to the work week and then it's finally the weekend. However this is the weekend of the company Christmas party, so I'm not yet sure how that's going to affect my more sociable plans. It's also the Pride March tomorrow at 03:00pm and I really want to go since I've never done so in the many years that I've been away from home. However with the party in the evening, it sort of complicates plans and makes things certainly more difficult.

Decisions, decisions...

The man in the hat is so sharp, he'd cut himself if he wasn't careful. =P

00798: Another Step Forward

2009-12-03T12:31:37Z

Today's the birthday of none other than the woman who played an instrumental role in my formation - Mom! Happy Birthday Mom!

Work continues to be busy, which is naturally expected. What made yesterday a bit more interesting was the amount of interaction I had with my Director. He had joined the team for the weekly meeting of the Audit and Compliance Team that I now manage and gave some great feedback on our on-going activities. It was practically a lecture in some ways, although it was primarily disguised as just him giving feedback on the audit report being discussed and I certainly learned a lot and so did the team. I'm still new to all of this and so these educational moments are always rather interesting and they certainly help the day go along better.

But beyond that, I also found myself talking to him later in the day and it was a rather long conversation. What started as him wanting to just think aloud about an on-going training concern. This eventually evolved into this more meaningful discussion of the history of the company, the events that may have shaped the behaviors of some of the more tenured employees still with us today and a glimpse of his overall view of where the company is headed and what his plans are related to that. It's probably the longest I've ever spent talking to him and certainly a conversation that I got a lot out of. We're definitely entering a new phase in our working relationship such that he seems to trust me a lot more or at the very least feels more comfortable about talking to me, and I'm glad for that. It's taken a while for us to reach this point and this level of comfort and ease of conversation can only lead to bigger and better things for our joint efforts.

Now I have to get something into my stomach before dashing off to another work day. I was in a rush so I just fried some well-seasoned pork steaks while Tobie's putting together a salad. I love the fact that we're able to feed ourselves in this manner. While the dishes are simple and nothing fancy, they're always filling since they're made with the sense of self-satisfaction that comes with cooking your own food. That's always a good thing.

Oh, and I really need to learn to sew. I've been researching techniques on the web and I'll probably try my hand at it this weekend. It's just to mend some of my pants whose seams have given way, which isn't much I know. But like how I was when I started cooking, I have to start somewhere and perhaps eventually I'll work my way up to bigger projects. Good luck to me!

Okay, now even I have to admit this is a really useful presentation, LOL

00797: Mid-Flight Course Corrections

2009-12-02T13:07:29Z

First, Happy Birthday to fellow geek, Benny! Sorry I can't make it to your event but hopefully we'll get to hang out and party sometime soon!

I woke up later than planned and so I wasn't able to cook munggo as planned. Bugger - and I had already pre-soaked by beans, too! So now the beans tucked away in the fridge and I'll just have to get around to cooking it in the morning. Still, boo on me for waking up late.

Work was as busy as expected considering I was out for the holiday last Monday. Still, the weekend did a lot to recharge me and so it didn't feel as draining...at least not until the 3-hour Legal Learning Session at the end of my day. As much as it was important, it was also rather boring and it was a bit of a struggle to stay awake all the way to the end. Boo.

Today also happens to be Wheelie Day and that means quality time with Archer. He's not feeling too well and so things could have been livelier, but I'm not complaining. We did goof off a bit by applying pore strips to our noses in order to see the kind of cityscapes we'd eventually create but mostly it was just another great day with the man I love. Sure, we can spend hours on our respective computers sitting practically side-by-side, but I'll always really feel him there with me and that makes all the difference. Plus we end up sharing this and that geeky site, video or image that we find during our respective surfing sessions and then just enjoy laughing about it after.

Tobie and I tried watching the first episode of Misfits and it came out a tad slow to us. A few friends had been praising the show for its creativity and humor and thus the reason we decided to try it out. Maybe things get better after this first episode - all that we can agree on is that the "lead" actor has been designed to be an incredibly annoying prick. Argh.

I'm still getting used to all of the special commands on Blacktron, my netbook. It has all these custom touch pad commands to zoom around or to scroll up and down and it does take some getting used to. It's not as difficult to trigger the commands now - just really tricky to manage a decent amount of control in order to go through a page smoothly without suddenly finding myself at the end of the page or something.

Oh, and I filled out that darned form on the TicketNet site to reserve tickets for The Killers in January. I'm weirded out by the system since a reservation only seems to reserve a calling slot. I'll probably try calling directly tomorrow to ask about how Tobie and I can purchase tickets outright.

Ah well, time to get ready for work. Another day is calling for me. Bugger.

The engineering mindset is always interesting, tee hee!

00796: Enjoying the Holiday

2009-12-01T11:45:28Z

Today's the birthday of Tobie's cool(er) sister, Tracy! Happy Birthday Tracy! Hope we get to hang out again sometime soon!

Yesterday was a pretty good day. After the high that was "winning" NaNoWriMo, Tobie and I found ourselves with some free time returned to us. So in order to break routine and trigger a change of scene (that rhymed!), we decided to meet up with the others at O Bar for some drinking, dancing and drag queens. We picked up Nico on the way over and then met up with Tom and Fritz once there.

O Bar wasn't as tightly packed as it usually is on weekends, which was okay for me since I wasn't looking to get accidentally intimate with so many people at the same time. That gave us more room to enjoy our drinks, goof off and try to have actual conversations despite the ambient noise. It's nice that O Bar is pretty much open no matter what day of the week you decide to go - perfect for BPO workers like myself who sometimes find themselves without work on a week night instead of a weekend. Plus the atmosphere has always felt very friendly to me and it's not as pretentious as some other bars nor do I constantly feel like I'm being sized up by every passerby like a piece of meet. It's not a feeling that I enjoy.

The drag performance for the night was campy as always, which was probably exactly what I needed after the stress of NaNoWriMo among other things. The DJ seemed to be intentionally playing songs Tobie and I enjoyed a lot like remixes of "I'm Yours", "Closer", and "Mercy". Heck, there was even a rendition of "I Was Not Supposed To Fall In Love With You" and even the drag show featured, "Love You I Do" - oh yes, I definitely enjoyed the music for the night. That includes the Spanish version of "I Gotta Feeling" LOL

After O Bar, we agreed to join Tom and Fritz in search of a massage and ended up at this smaller massage place called Espada. Their signature massage turned out to be a lot better than expected - it wasn't the hard kind of massage that hurts so much it feels good (in a manner of speaking, mind you), but ended up feeling a lot more relaxing and comforting. For only P300, it's probably worth a repeat visit and it certainly helped me satisfy my long-term craving for a massage in recent weeks. Seriously, I feel very refreshed even until now.

Well, work beckons beyond the horizon and thus far I've shined my shoes and finally got around to trying this Sew No More fabric glue to mend my damaged pants seam. The glue seems to be working for now but I suppose the true test will be later at the office. I've finished the last of the spaghetti sauce together with the last of the tortillas as a quick leftovers dinner and I'm about to have my second cup of coffee. I really can't seem to brew a single cup well and since Tobie isn't home yet, I'm having two cups instead of my regular one so the second doesn't go to waste. Ah well.

This week promises to be busy. Must stay above water...as usual.

You have to admit that this just might be true, especially with the way most governments seem to operate.

00795: NaNoWriMo WINNER!

2009-11-30T15:52:12Z

Over 50,000 words. I actually made it and thus have effectively become a NaNoWriMo winner. Oh. My. GOD! I actually did it! And it was my first time to try for it, ever! I'm still pretty overwhelmed that I actually made it and perhaps am slightly more surprised that in terms of the actual story itself, I'm not quite done. I'll probably need to take the better part of this week to tie things up nicely and really call it a true novel that can stand on its own, but just getting this far is quite the achievement.

I guess was really gets me is the fact that for the past 5-10 years, I haven't really managed to write any significant amounts of fiction since high school (and those were mainly graded compositions). Thus to go from struggling fictionist to theoretically a novelist in the span of 30 days isn't something you can expect anyone to do. I have to admit I didn't really expect that I'd make it either. But I kept at it and Tobie kept on pushing me forward and making sure I spent time everyday writing and thus 30 days later we're here - with over 50,000 words and pretty much a full-fledged novel on my hands. My mind continues to spin with the possibilities.

So yes, I definitely have to give a very big THANK YOU to Tobie for convincing me to try doing this and even better, to just be there for me over the past month and help me achieve this literary goal. Sure, NaNoWriMo doesn't give you any sort of cash prize at the end and in essence the only monetary reward you get is a PDF of a certificate that you can download and print out for yourself. Of course that's not what it's about. It's all about the hard lesson that yes, you CAN write a novel if you really set your mind to it and give yourself a serious deadline. You'll cry out in frustration at times but you just need to keep on writing, keep on pushing and eventually you'll get to the finish line.

Oh yes, and Tobie is a NaNoWriMo winner, too!

Does this mean that I'm going to start writing novels regularly? I wouldn't go that far just yet - NaNoWriMo caused many a fun night at home instead of out with friends and I'm sure my social life could use some mending. Plus all the writing time dedicated to NaNoWriMo has certainly affected the regularity of entries on the Geeky Guide and I know I have some catching up to do over there. But at the very least, I do think I'll be writing more stories from now on and perhaps I'll finally get around to writing that one big novel that's been in my head for so long and yet I can never seem to find the time, the effort or the sheer will to do just that. NaNoWriMo has certainly shocked me in realizing just what I'm still capable of as a writer. It's an empowering thought, but I still feel a lot better for it.

Well, tonight's a local holiday and I've decided to stay in with Tobie. To celebrate NaNoWriMo, I cooked up a large batch of spaghetti, fried some pork steaks and sat down to watch Atonement. That was certainly an awesome movie and one that I'm going to enjoy eventually reviewing on the Geeky Guide.

In the corporate world, Wally is practically a genius in work avoidance.