First, a very Happy Birthday to my high school classmate Paolo (better known as "Granny") and to fellow blogger Ian!

So last night Tobie and I did end up hitting O Bar. Given we had been drinking most of Saturday, the goal was to have a lighter evening with hopefully some good music to boot. Only Nico (my virtual anak) joined us for the night, which was still okay since we had a decent amount of fun. As always the DJ played a lot of great albums and the three of us had fun with the drag shows, the wide variety of people around us that we could make fun of and the weird things people get into when they're drunk. Someone toasted a beer with me (I have no idea why) and Tobie insists someone tried to follow me to the bathroom, although I had aborted that trip since I saw the line was really long. Mon ended up kissing a girl (gasp!) for a significant portion of the evening and I saw a LOT of officemates on the dance floor. Still, it was all good fun and I definitely needed that.

Today Tobie and I stepped out to get some errands done and came across two Chinese knock-offs of some of the most classic Transformer gestalts - Devastator and Superion! They were less than P180 a pop and so we got them for the heck of it. I'm REALLY surprised at just how accurate they were to the original designs, albeit done in cheap plastic. The wonders of the Chinese toy industry well spent. I've already uploaded the photos to Multiply and am still working on the Facebook upload. Damn you Facebook photo uploader! At least the photos are now up.

Beyond that, we had a nice lunch at the newly opened Mexicali attached to SM and I finally managed to attempt pork adobo. We ended up with a very rich (and oily) sauce given the fatty cuts of meat we ended up having from Shopwise. And there wasn't that much sauce either - it all kinda boiled away as I was trying to soften the meat. So the lessons from this first attempt are (1) it's worth spending for a better (less fatty) cut of pork, (2) it might be better to just use simple white cane vinegar instead of the more expensive kind, (3) maybe I should pre-cook the meat outside of the marinate cycle and (4) maybe it'll be fun to add potatoes, LOL.

Now I have to get ready for work. Oh well, at least the weekend was certainly more than worth it.

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Sadly, this is more true than some people realize. Boo humanity.

I did it. I sang in front of a life audience.

Rockeoke with the geeks last night was a lot of fun. After some delays, a few more work emails I needed to send out before being able to relax for the night and other such things, Tobie finally picked me up and we made our way to mag:net cafe over at Bonifacio High Street. It was already past ten and we pretty much only had an hour left for Rockeoke since the place was closing early due to a scheduled power interruption at midnight. The place was decently full despite it being Holy Week, and it was a good at time as any to stop being a "Rockeoke virgin".

I had spent some time before the event trying to find songs that (1) I could sing decently, (2) I knew well enough not to screw up in case I couldn't hear my own voice and (3) was a song I actually liked. That had me tapping my videoke staples (we all have them, especially once you start working) and ended with a short list of potential songs. The one I really wanted to sing was Toad the Wet Sprocket's All I Want, but sadly it was not part of the list of available songs. So instead I fell back on the painful, wailing song that is Radiohead's Creep. It seemed like an interesting choice since I was wearing my fun black NERD shirt that Marius gave me for my birthday last year. Yeah. so I was a creep, a weirdo and a nerd - fun, fun, fun! I think I didn't mess up the song too badly - Penny actually recorded a video of me and posted it on Facebook.

Other geek who were there before us were Carl |the_bumper_car| and Nick, who were on stage when we arrived, and there was Beejay and Mark, who were busy on their netbooks at the time. Despite the abbreviated nature of this week's Rockeoke session, we still had a lot of fun and all us geeks had a grand time closing the night with our horrible rendition of ABBA's Dancing Queen, with matching actions courtesy of Tobie, haha. For the morbidly curious, photos are available on Multiply and Facebook.



My Rockeoke experience, as limited as it was, had me thinking about past "performances" in my life.

You see, my mom and my gran were educators in the classic English sense, and so inevitably the need for confidence on stage became a requirement. Starting with things as basic as reading my first book aloud to anyone who was willing to hear it to more complex poems and elocution pieces. There was never a question about the need to be able to face audiences and crowds - you just had to learn to do it in our family.

The first few times I ever took to the stage, naturally I was nervous. The school auditorium was pretty big and trying to face your entire school batch in a single venue to recite some piece or read some story aloud can get pretty intimidating. Maybe it helped that I developed astigmatism early, so the crowds were a bit of a blur even with my glasses on. From there it became intuitive to pick up other tricks of the trade when facing crowds, like how I'd initially focus on people's eyebrows in order to appear to be making eye contact with the room. When you're up on a stage in a venue that large, it usually works, believe me.

That eventually led to me always volunteering to be the "reporter" during school group activities or just being comfortable speaking, singing and in stranger circumstances even dancing. A slightly odd turn of events, but I'm not really complaining.

The irony here is that it never made me want to go on stage in order to show off or anything like that. I would just go if I somehow needed to go, whether for the good of the class, of the school group I was in or just because my parents needed me to do it. It didn't override my being rather introverted under most circumstances - it did make me comfortable with the possibility of stepping into the "spotlight", so to speak, but only when it was required. It's a bit hard to explain, but that's basically how it worked for me as the years go by.

Don' get me wrong, I do derive some benefits from such events. You can't help but enjoy the sense of accomplishment one gets when you get through your performance. There's the prerequisite applause that comes right after, whether genuine or otherwise, but it still feels good all the same. There are the smiles and the cheers and all that good stuff to help you get by. At the end of things, I'm just happy it's over, relived that I survived another face-off with public speaking or whatever, and ultimately I'm glad that was able to fulfill my obligation. Strange, I guess I've been hard-wired by my upbringing to fulfill my responsibilities as much as possible. Hmmm.

The butterflies in the stomach will never go away, not completely. I'll always get nervous to some extent before getting up before a crowd, even one as small as a new hire training class at work. I guess it comes with my tendency to get a little paranoid, the urge to second-guess myself and pretty much just the usual insecurities that come with over thinking things. It's what makes me want to stay in the background somehow, avoid the spotlight and to not overly put myself forward. I don't necessarily go out of my way to be noticed, but I guess my other personality quirks ensure that I do.

But I'll do what needs to be done. That's always one of the key things about me, I'd like to believe. When it gets down to the wire, I'll act decisively and not shrink away from the challenges that need to be faced.

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You have to admit how the current US financial crises is just cannon fodder for comic strip humor.

Between the 3-4 hour nap I took this morning to the 2-3 hours of sleep I managed right before lunch, In theory I've had enough rest for the day. Of course anyone in my situation knows that when you break up your sleeping period like that, it never really feels the same as sleeping straight, but then that's what I have to deal with. I don't even know why I woke up so soon after lunch - perhaps the heat or whatever.

This weekend I've been focused on uploading all of our photos to Facebook even though they're already on Multiply. It's a rather tedious task since I stopped really working on the Facebook copies of our photos ever since my laptop was stolen last October. Plus Facebook's odd requirement of no more than 60 photos per album is a major pain, but what can I do, right? All this just for the purpose of tagging people with these same photos so they can take advantage of the photos in case they want them. Welcome to the notion of social networking generosity, haha.

I have a busy day today - we're shooting several episodes of Fandom Live! with the rest of the geeks. We're shooting sort of "on location" with the mock-up of the original Star Trek bridge that was last seen at the New Worlds 5 convention back in 2007. Given there are a lot of Star Trek events in the days and weeks to come, culminating with the new movie premiering in May, it's certainly a busy time indeed for Via Astris. It's a good time to be a geek indeed. I'm hitching a ride with Tobie later today so at least getting to the venue shouldn't be too difficult.

Brian |kitchengod| and I started watching True Blood last night, and I have to admit the series is certainly growing on me. Sure, the Southern accents do get a tad annoying at times and sometimes my brain wants to shut down and just give up on it, but the story is fairly compelling enough and you find yourself needing to see the next episode. All this considering I'm not very much into vampires and that whole mythology. And of course there's a lot of sex, but then this is an HBO series, so I'm no longer surprised by that.

Plus it helps that some of the guys are pretty hot, even if their characters are dumb as bricks. Ah eye candy.

Jayson |kukuripupu| is expected back in Manila today and he should be dropping by Vella tonight. This should be interesting.

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It's all about thinking long term...

I will once again rave about the weather. Seriously. Why wasn't it this cold in December, right? This weather is just AWESOME - I don't want to go to work! I don't want to leave the house! Heck, I don't want to leave my bed, hahaha! We should all stay in and just enjoy the snugglecuddliness of the nice cool weather. I don't need pouring rain or even a drizzle - the state of things at this precise moment in time is just PERFECT. Don't move weather! Stay...stay...GOOD DOG! =D

Okay, enough of that.

Fridays are banking days and Brian |kitchengod| are done for the week. Beyond my bare minimum need to deposit our weekly contributions to our savings account, Brian had some additional banking needs for the day, which was out of pattern, and despite how generally sleepy I was, I still went along. It involved going to three different banks around Makati - one for me and two for him - but thankfully they were generally walking distance from one another, so it wasn't too bad a morning. Besides, the really comfy weather made our walk a lot more pleasant and definitely easier than it would have been in warmer times. Have I mentioned how much I love the weather today? HAVE I?

Work was work-ish. Or work-y. What's up with me today? I guess the weather has me in rather good spirits.

I've been running a number of surveys here and there about a possible housewarming party here at Vella for my LJ / Multiply / Blogger friends and since it was taking forever to express interest, I finally started emailing folks directly. With luck, I'll be able to figure out a day, put something together and have a great day for friends whom I haven't seen in a while (or perhaps have never met in person) and try to have a cool night. Luckily, the weather will be something like this. Or better yet, exactly like this. Precisely how things are right now. Yeah, that's the ticket...

The weekend is just around the corner and I still have one more work shift. Bugger. I can do this, I can! I can right? Besides, I have such awesome weather to support me! =D

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You get it, right? I get it. It's cool enough for my brain to get it like more than usual. Right? RIGHT!

So what did I accomplish this weekend?

Given my long Friday shift and Lydia's Breakfast Party, Saturday was pretty much non-productive.

When I did wake up past midnight, I did get around to finally synchronizing myself with the US by watching both episodes 3 and 4 of Pushing Daisies and the latest episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Naturally I continue to love Pushing Daisies and every episode is worth waiting an entire week for. I think I'm beginning to form a slightly geeky crush on Lee Pace, who plays the protagonist Ned. And of course there's Kristin Chenoweth, who is always worth watching, hehe. Clone Wars was pretty good this week, although I think I'm still generally holding my breath about the series and waiting for it to get somewhere. The introduction of commando droids was a little weird, but still interesting.

Chris and Chase did come over for dinner last night and it was awesome. Brian |kitchengod| really cooked up a feast and I think the night went rather well, as simple as it was.

I've finished Feeding Frenzy 2 twice now - once the usual way and once using The Intruder as my fish. I've given up on Diner Dash Seasonal Snack Pack and Diner Dash Flo Through Time - they're just too hard! I ended up downloading the first Diner Dash and now I'm stuck there, too. I tried playing the endless shift mode and got to level 20...but of course now my hand hurts. Bugger. Where are StarCraft II and Diablo III when I need them? I need to progress past these kinds of arcade games!

Brian and I were supposed to go to our banks today but ended up postponing it for tomorrow. I only have to do my usual "bank run", which ironically enough means depositing money into the savings account from my perspective. Sue me if it's a confusing term, I just like saying it. Brian has to make the monthly deposit for his mom's condo, which he's paying for on her behalf since she's out of the country. Of course being up all night in order to preserve our sleeping pattern and general feelings of lethargy has translated into us pushing out departure time back and then ultimately postponing the whole thing for tomorrow. Why is it so hard to leave the house once you're all settled in?

This week should be a lot lighter for me in terms of work. I don't have a class to run and I'm not obsessing about nesting either. I will hold office on the floor for the next week or so to help clarify any questions or concerns that the pilot group might still have while I work on additional training materials for them. My boss, Carlo, is on leave this week, which means I have to pick up his slack to keep things running. It's not that bad given I used to manage all this before. Still, I'll not be overly optimistic and will remain on my toes to monitor things as they progress.

Brian is cooking breakfast now - part of the compromise for not going out to the bank today. I always get excited when he starts to prepare food - he makes omelets into amazingly special treats. He's doing something with chicken breasts this morning, so this is well beyond an omelet, hehe. All I can manage is to cook rice and that's about it.

Welcome to the last week of October. I still don't have a Halloween costume for work. =(

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You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Cartoon Mafia, hehe

This has been a rather blah day, but I'm not complaining.

I've been up practically since last night when Brian |kitchengod| went out to Malate while I stayed home. I made good progress with some of the stuff I set out to do like a few more blog entries about comic book reviews and one post about how to pass a demo teach after all the demos I've watched over the past few weeks.

I'm most proud of my finally working on the books this weekend and the current arrangement seems to work for the most part. While I share Brian's sentiments about how doubling-up books (meaning having two rows) sucks since you can't see the back row anymore, it was the only way to get everything shelved well. For my geekier friends or perhaps those just curious about the books, you can view the photos of the new shelving arrangement via Multiply or you can just scan my books on Shelfari.

Yes, I really, truly am proud about having gotten this done.

Today there was the potential to meet up with Mom for a book run, but that didn't pan out. So instead I made sure to get a haircut - and that's certainly a load off my shoulders (har har). With the afternoon now free, Brian and I headed out to Waltermart for some much needed grocery shopping. He's trying to plan out the menu for the week so that we can bring food to work and try to save more that way. It seems a prudent effort and I really hope we get to stick to that sort of a plan - it'll go a long way towards better financial management and more importantly much better tasting lunches at work! =D

Yeah, this weekend was pretty domestic for me.

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Talk about conveniently limited empowerment, hehe.

I'm not going to work tonight given that for the most part, I'm not feeling well. It also happens to be my birthday, and ironically enough no one at work really remembered. Even the initial HR announcement about this month's birthday celebrants as was sent only this morning didn't include my name. I'm not sure how to feel about all this, I mean I'm probably partly to blame since I don't really get overly close to my trainers or something. At the same time, I guess when you spend 5 years at a company, you're bound to reach a point in time when the people closest to you and who would probably remember your birthday have all moved on to other jobs and you're one of the few "old-timers" left at the company. Ah well, let's see how things go - my birthday is really just starting in terms of US date and time.

My cold isn't so bad but I can really feel a cough struggling to come forward. I've been somewhat preemptively taking Tuseran forte to fight those symptoms and so far things are more or less manageable. Of course, the constant amount of medicine in my system keeps me in a state of partial wooziness, which is probably not the best thing for work. Thus the pseudo working from home arrangement makes sense for now, hehe. I'll keep in touch with the office via webmail / IM / SMS as needed, unless I pass out due to the meds or something.

It would have been cooler if a friend or two could have popped over to Matilda tonight to help me pass the time, but then it's still a work night so that's not really happening either. So yeah, all alone tonight. It seems somehow fitting for now. And no, I'm not even considering going out or anything silly like that. Why spend when you can just enjoy the wonderful world of the internet at large, yes?

Greetings have been coming in since Sunday, really. Well, that is if you count automated greetings from the likes of JobsDB and Jobstreet, haha. I've been getting a fair share of messages via Facebook, Multiply and of course Plurk, too. Surprisingly LJ hasn't been that active in this regard, which is kinda sad - not because I want more greetings but more because it shows how people have moved on to other platforms or just don't bother reading as much. Well, that's the world we live in now, after all.

My thanks to all those who have taken the time to greet me on yet another successful orbit around the sun. Whether via online messages on social networks, emails, text messages or even a call or two, I really appreciate all the greetings. Now if only I'd get some actual gifts, too! LOL

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Hey, we could all use this kind of pheromone impact, LOL

The overall temperature has been admittedly pleasant given the on and off rain today, although considering that it's still a storm and not all locations / homes are built for this kind of weather, I guess I can't be too happy about it. I've never really gotten that out of my system since my childhood - while it's fun to celebrate the cancellation of classes due to bad weather, we're always reminded of less fortunate folks who suffer in such weather. While I know my not being overly elated won't do anything for those who suffer in stormy weather, it doesn't stop me from at least tempering my emotions. It's funny what habits / beliefs / practices we adopt in childhood that continue on into our adult lives.

Last night was great, apart from the heavy rain later in the evening. Brian |kitchengod| and I met up with members of the Putanesca Family (it's a long story) to celebrate Ryan's birthday by, well, bowling. It's always interesting to see how a group of queer friends end up in an activity as stereotypically butch as bowling. Everyone had different methods and styles - Monchu had a particular way of triumphantly turning around after rolling a good one while Marius had his intricate little S-curve dance as he released the ball. I pretty much sucked initially given the last time I had even attempted bowling was back in HIGH SCHOOL, but my second game as a bit better, albeit my score still not breaking 100. Emer had also joined us for the games and later on Jon, Monchu's boyfriend, arrived and tried his hand at the game and managed to get a strike on the very first try.

We also gave Ryan his gifts from my US trip - this was in the form of an official Wicked Elphaba - Defying Gravity Glitter Globe. The one time I had even looked at the actual globe was when I bought it after watching Wicked in Los Angeles, so it was nice to see just how detailed it was. Of course what was even better was seeing the smile on Ryan's face when he finally freed the globe from its packaging. We also gave him a pretty big Simpsons poster featuring pretty much every single character from the series - another item that I had picked up for him at Amoeba Music in LA. We also had a magnet for Marius and a key chain for Monchu so they could share in the Wicked happiness.

After bowling we headed down to the nearby dampa area for some very unhealthy overeating. Ryan ordered up a storm and we proceeded to feast like there was no tomorrow. Jon didn't join us given seafood wasn't quite his fare but we had been joined by Nico and Ricci who had caught up with us towards the end of our bowling session. It was a lot of fun just talking about whatever came to mind as plate after plate of food was served and we ate until we couldn't possible eat anymore. Of course as our meal progressed, the storm decided to make itself felt and for a time we were stranded at the table as it rained ridiculously hard around us. Eventually that was a slight break in the rain and we all scrambled back to the mall parking so we could head on home.

Today has been pretty much lazy, as always. Brian and I continue to play Diablo II, this time finally having broken past the Nightmare level to unlock Hell while on the side I've finally re-structured my Druid away from elemental skills to shape-shifting abilities. Now he's a pretty wicked werewolf with a ridiculously high attack rating.

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That is quite the management trap, LOL.