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!

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Gods, I hate those Facebook suggestions, too!

To all my friends in the US, a very Happy Thanksgiving to you! Enjoy the Thanksgiving feast and perhaps you can find a way to send me some freeze-dried leftovers! =D

Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 40,172 words. I'm 80% of the way there with only 4 days left to get the rest of it done. You can certainly imagine my internal stress as I just think about this prospect right now. Seriously. This is a aggravating as thinking about leaving the volume at a notch not divisible by 3 or 5 added together with the stress of not having paired utensils and throwing in the stress of buying an odd number of pork chops when I plan on cooking for an even number of people. I know it all sounds weird, but that's the best I can describe how this feels to me right now. But I'm not at all giving up - I know that I'll be able to catch up over the weekend and hopefully I'll make it just in time.

I haven't done much cross-promotional stuff here so it wouldn't hurt to sneak that in for today's entry, right?

I was surprised to find that I now have 28 Google Wave invites to give away. To make things more interesting, I've started a very simple "contest" of sorts over at the Geeky Guide for those who want an invite. I'm not asking for much! I'm just asking for more support for my geeky blogging efforts, hehe.

Speaking of geeky blogging efforts, you all do realize that I now write articles for NewWorlds.ph, right? I'm supposedly Associate Editor for TV but I haven't quite gotten around to writing my regular column just yet - perhaps once I'm done with NaNoWriMo. For the curious, you can visit my "blog" on NewWorlds.ph here or you can just search for any entries tagged with "geekyguide" at the site.

Beyond that, I've decided to also blog about my desires for a new digital bridge camera and possibly a netbook. If any of you have recommendations for me for either gadget or even have contacts / deals I should check out, I'd love to hear from you!

Now I have to cut things short so I can get ready to head out. Tobie and I are catching the premiere of Amelia at the Podium tonight before I eventually have to head off to work. Smell you geeks later!

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Happy Thanksgiving you geeks! Always be thankful for cats!

Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 26,952 words. I squeezed in a little writing during my breaks between all my meetings at work, but then given my overall state of tiredness, I really wasn't in the best of writing moods. Ack. Well, the day is young and perhaps after I get some sleep in, I'll be in a better position to catch up in the afternoon or something. I'm starting to feel the crunch with only 11 days left in the month, but I can't let that scare me away.

Work was a major drain given the number of things I had to do and of course the general tiredness that comes from lack of sleep. It's a small miracle that I made it to the end of the shift and was still relatively coherent during my 06:00am meeting. Small joys.

My mind is a bit of a mess right now. Recent revelations of things that have always been in plain sight to ponder have now been made very, very real and I guess it was inevitable. No, no guessing - I knew it was going to be inevitable for it to happen. What does deserve the "I guess" phrase is that I guess I was in a relative state of denial all these years. This whole train of thought reminds me about my often discussing Asymptotes, which isn't something isolated to 2009 LJ entries - it tends to happen for a specific reason I suppose.

And yes, I admit it's still that same reason.

I've definitely grown a lot since then and I'd like to think that I've matured as well. I've come to realize a great many things in the course of this year, especially given my break up and eventually finding Archer to complete my life. Still, last night's revelation gave me pause and a LOT to think about and that probably contributed the circumstances that resulted in me feeling so tired now and not being able to write as much.

What's interesting to note is that finally, I can safely say that my troubled thoughts aren't centered around me or even about other people and how they affect me. No, this time it's not about me, and knowing that is an amazing relief. It's a load lifted from my shoulders that helps to some degree in terms of personal comfort but it doesn't solve the "problem" that remains - or perhaps better stated as the current situation that needs to be...addressed. I'm trying to be the best person that I can possibly be given these circumstances but I'm only human - I do get to react and feel a little off-kilter given this news. Perhaps a LOT off-kilter, but who's to judge, really?

So here I am trying to blog about this almost immediately upon returning to the Sietch - our refuge. Our place of safety in times of danger. Yes, that is what the Sietch is. I do this not to generate gossip or make my life sound more interesting - I just do this to better organize my thoughts. Somehow, getting them onto "paper" or at least out there in a visual format has always helped me consider all angles, think things through and even come to realize new perspectives.

And I certainly need all the powers of logic and emotional reasoning combined. After all, what do you do when the asymptote "breaks"?

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A classic work strategy and definitely a good one at that! Hehehe...

First up, a very Happy Birthday to one of my most engaged sales trainers, Mau! Now that I'm at home, I'm free to break your "secret" and greet you a very, very Happy Birthday!!! =D

Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 20,486 words. I broke the 20,000 word count yesterday before heading off to bed but haven't made much progress since. Given I slept away today and dinner plans later, I get this feeling I won't be able to write as much as I wanted to today, but I'll keep trying.

The work week is finally over and I'm more than relieved, naturally. It's been pretty busy, stressful here and there, but that's pretty much par for the course. Next week isn't going to get any better, I'm sure, but we'll do what we need to do and keep at it. But I don't want to think about the work week anymore - it's time to enjoy the weekend!

Tobie and I will be meeting up with a friend of mine that I haven't seen in ages - Deo. We met a few years ago because of a mutual friend and have remained in contact since then. Because of a chance IM conversation this week, we ended up making dinner / drinking plans for tonight and we're looking to meet at around 09:00pm. I have no idea what to truly expect from the night, but it may involve lots of food, maybe drinking and dancing at Malate but ultimately lots of good fun and catch-up conversation. Yay for weekends!

I've also been asked by the geeks over at the New Worlds Alliance to sign up as an associate editor for TV news and features, which is a pretty fun task (take note - I didn't say job) that should complement my Geeky Guide blogging in its own way. Tobie and I were discussing possible titles for my web column and we narrowed it down to two main possibilities:

1. The Geeky TV Guide
   
2. The Geeky Guide to TV

So which one do you like better? Vote for your favorite in the comments and we'll see how this goes on!

For now, I'm cutting all this short so I can get some NaNoWriMo writing in before we leave for the night. Catch you geeks later!

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I always wanted to do something like this...sorta. =D

Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 16,879 words. Given today's the 12th, I'm supposed to be at 20,000 words. Despite the more than 3,000 word gap, I'm not feeling all that pressured or daunted. I'm just letting the writing come as it will and trusting that as long as I don't give up and I keep at it, I'll catch up eventually. Of course this also means that I won't post a new Geeky Guide entry today. Or will I?

*launches Blogger*

ANYWAY, time to briefly yet vaguely talk about work. I had two applicants for the open trainer posts we have. The first one was pretty enthusiastic but not quite polished. He had a few grammar slips here and there, but he clearly liked the profession and I bet through sheer effort, he'll get decently far. I'm keeping him on the active file while I work through this batch of applicants - then I should have a better idea of where he stands. The second applicant was a decent facilitator but what really made him stand out was how well he spoke and how he seemed to be a decently intelligent guy. When I say the guy spoke well, I'm not talking call center English here. I mean he really spoke better than the average Filipino and that can only really come from a good English-speaking household or something along those lines. I really liked the guy but his skill set is quite what I need just now, so I he's also been relegated to the active file as I continue to screen this week.

Then there were a bunch of other incidents throughout the day that made things interesting, kept me busy and largely prevented me from working on my novel some more. Boo busy days. I went hope later than I had planned, but that just comes with the territory, so I guess it's okay.

What's more interesting to discuss was this morning's cooking attempt - chop suey! I had never made the dish before and so it was an adventure in its own right. Tobie and I had gone nuts on the veggies last Tuesday during the grocery run (fresh produce 10% off!) and I finally tried to put everything together this morning before waking him up. As I started to follow a Filipino version of he recipe I had found online, I started to realize that I may have made a few errors here and there as I tried to indulge in terms of what I wanted to add. The key lessons were:

1. I probably should have cooked the giblets more...
   
2. Heck, I should have used less giblets.
   
3. I also should have fried the tofu longer...
   
4. ...and I should have followed the Chinese style of cooking tofu and not the Filipino style.
   
5. I forgot to add in the asparagus and the carrots...
   
6. ...which was probably a good thing since I had used a bit too much of all the other ingredients.

Despite all those regrets and little considerations in my head, it turned out decently enough and was still edible. It still tasted like the Filipino version of chop suey, which meant it was a bit soupy and not really stir fry. I'll probably invest time in researching the Chinese recipe more and see how that goes.

And we should probably get a wok - the pot worked decently enough, but it still wasn't the same.

Ah, the joys of kitchen chemistry experiments!

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Geek level up for a reference to "The Prisoner"!!!

First up, a very Happy Birthday to dear friend of mine who goes all the way back to elementary school! A very Happy Birthday to you, David! Keep up the good fight and good luck in all of your endeavors!

Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 16,233 words. I know I keep saying that it's a long way from my goal and the whole thing still needs work, but I have to admit there's still a significant sense of satisfaction one gets from achieving one goal or another, even the small personal ones. In truth, I need over 2,000 words before I can even just catch up to where I need to be in terms of my daily goal, but the true achievement is me finishing the second chapter of the story with a certain level of satisfaction. I know I'm not very good with the whole bulk writing as fast as one can and I still take some time to think about things and edit to some degree, but at least I'm still pushing forward! And it's a total wow for me - over 16,000 words is nothing to sneeze at, and we're not even at the half way point for the month!

Go, go, go NaNoWriMo!!! LOL

I'm trying to think of a slightly new direction for the Geeky Guide. While it's good that I've pretty much figured out my posting schedules and I'm able to continually read or watch things of geeky interest in order to generate content for the site, but beyond the reviews, there's not much else to it. I'm hoping to flesh out the Geeky Guide with feature articles and not just rebroadcasting news or something. I'm not quite sure to start so today I ended up posting a boring yet informative differentiation between Google AdWords, AdSense and Analytics. It's nothing new for people who know about Google or actually use these features / tools, but it's a decent start.

Overall, I'm still trying to think of other forms of content that I can come up with to keep things interesting. Plus the readers are simply out there for the taking and so I need to figure out how best to position the Geeky Guide in order to get a slice of the market just for me. It's a lofty goal, one that I don't necessarily have a time for this month because of NaNoWriMo on-going and eating up most of my creative time and energies. But it doesn't mean I can't think about it and try to conceptualize new article styles.

If any of you dear friends and other such readers have an idea, feel free to suggest possible alternatives!

In the meantime, I think I may need to lie down in order to wake up early enough later to prepare dinner AND get some writing done. Addict much? LOL

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Damn, dirty evolutionists! ROFL

Happy Wheelie Day!

After a day of working on it on and off, I only have 4,519 words and one Geeky Guide review to show for it. I guess I'm still getting distracted by other geekery plus it's taking me a while to get the writing juices flowing in my brain. The story, which I'm now calling The Interrogation, is starting to come along a little better and it's starting to make more sense in my head. I could probably do for going back and adding more descriptions or elaborating on certain scenes to flesh things out more, but for now I'm just focused on writing as much as possible and pushing the story forward. It's weird to be writing this determinedly again, but it's also quite invigorating. Blogging is one thing but fiction writing is a completely different ball game. I'm just glad to be back in the game.

I'm taking the holiday today in the hopes of getting as much writing done as possible and to spend quality time with Archer. Today is a Wheelie Day after all, and that's always a cause for celebration. Tonight we're thinking of staying in and sort of recreating our first in-person encounter. This means ordering Shakey's pizzas for dinner (which I just did before starting this entry) and playing a few rounds of NetRunner. Flirting and / or playing footsie may be involved in order to attain true historical accuracy, LOL

It's funny how we've come to celebrate this pretty much every month. It's sort of a monthsary celebration, but it's a lot more than that since technically Wheelie Day wasn't the day that we agreed to be together. That came like a month or so later, depending on how you interpret the complicated chain of events that led to me committing to Archer. Normally Archer finds ways to make Wheelie Days special, even if it's just dragging me off to lunch somewhere nice in case Wheelie Day falls on a work day or we think of nicer things to do in general.

I'll cut this short for now. I need to devote more writing time for my story and keeping the Geeky Guide updated. Here we go!

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These are just totally AWESOME!

As always, birthdays first! A very Happy Birthday greeting goes out to one of the most dedicated Training Supervisors that I have the pleasure of working with, Nestor! Enjoy your vacation...you know the work will always be waiting for you when you get back! LOL

I've resumed my regular tours of duty at our QC site every Tuesday night, which can be quite a drain in its own right. I'm seriously re-thinking my decision to ride with the company van heading to the site given the trip itself has the random potential of becoming a very long and arduous journey depending on who's coming along. Last night our normally 30-minute drive down EDSA became a practically 1.5 hour nightmare that just left me feeling tired and unproductive. One and a half hours is a fairly long amount of time to be stuck in a vehicle and I can't help but think about all the other things I could have gotten done in that time.

So the rest of my time at QC felt a little cramped and rushed, and thus I was feeling a tad more stressed than usual and rather pressured. I ended up spending some time entertaining a client who was visiting the site, screening a trainer applicant and getting a weekly coaching session done. Miraculously, I was also able to get caught up on my work email and squeezed in a little time to get some actual food in my system. My time at QC isn't really all that bad when you get down to it - it's just the travel there that can be a real bitch.

I'm getting a little tense about November given my earlier commitment to attempt to write an actual novel in line with the upcoming NaNoWriMo event. Given all the different things that I get into, I'm thinking I'm going to have to consider temporarily giving certain things up in order to allot sufficient time to the novel-writing venture. If I consistently write daily, it still means I'll need to write an average of almost 1,700 words a day! That's clearly no simple feat and a certain degree of dedication and discipline is definitely in order if I stand even a remote chance of accomplishing this goal. I haven't even really considered the full outline of the plot - then again, I'm not even sure if such pre-work is considered part of the writing process that must take place within the month of November and not outside of it. I know, I'm probably over-thinking all this, but then it's how I get through life. Besides, I plan on taking this fairly seriously and I really want to make a good showing this year.

I don't mean to sound defeatist thought, but I highly doubt that I'll be able to finish an actual novel in time, but I know I'll definitely get a lot done in terms of the piece and so the effort alone has to be worth something. Plus if I fail my November goal, I'm still going to attempt to finish the book at least before the year ends. One way or another, I'm going to finish a novel, even if it kills me.

I think the obvious things to sacrifice are all the Facebook applications I waste time on like Mafia Wars and Castle Age. I'll revisit the game once November is over, perhaps, if only to free up more time. I hope I don't have to give up Geeky Guide blogging time in favor of NaNoWriMo, but that's a very real possibility. Or on the flip side, I could probably just write shorter entries here on LJ to also free up more time. I'll have a better idea of how feasible all this is perhaps a few days into November once I've truly given this a shot.

Wish me luck folks!

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Well, well, it looks like a lot of us learned a bit too much from the 1960's Batman show, hahaha!