7.12.03

i'm bored...

... and frigid. =P

29.11.03

what better way to christen a new PDA...

than by gutting the darned thing! heheh... i'l have my own pictures up soon - i'm midway gutting mine... all because of that STUPID digitizer problem i'm having...

26.11.03

blogging off my Tungsten!

aha! i'm finally able to perform blogging off my PDA! cool!

some issues with it though:
1 - the digitizer problem i'm experiencing on this device is far worse than any other unit i've EVER had! apparently the slider is partly to blame for the problem.
2 - 320x320 feels so old-school. i wish i could upgrade to a 320x480 screen again someday...
3 - i miss the Jog Dial...

23.11.03

i've decided...

... i'm getting the Tungsten T package my brother's boss is offering. hurts, but i'm sure i'll enjoy every peso spent on it. =) wish i could pony up for something else, but it really isn't exactly something easy to justify cost-wise. in the first place, i never intended to find a PDA replacement just yet anyway. ah well...

i'm feeling dizzy and sleepy... i should rest early tonight... must be because of all this spending i'm doing of late. =P

webspace!

i finally got personal webspace off myDestiny - this means i can finally start linking pics into this page... in a much cuter way!

(i gotta figure out the HTML involved first though...)

i've decided to get one of the Tungsten T offers to me - i'm perceiving this as a slight downgrade, coming from the HiRes+ screen of the Clie NR70, but i don't mind - i'm getting BlueTooth and Voice Recording... =)

let's try this:
Snoopy


aha! it works! heheh... now if i can only learn more HTML to create a webpage WITHIN the webspace provided...

22.11.03

my Clie! my poor little Clie!

it broke! i can't believe that it's busted! oh, the humanity! what am i going to do now?

hmm... i have a few options:
1- spend a premium getting a new Clie (a brand-new NX-80 is selling for roughly P35k)
2- spend much less getting something else (i've seen two ads selling used Tungsten Ts for P12k)
3- not spend at all (save myself money, but lose out on a PDA too)

i dunno what option i'll be taking yet. *sigh*

18.11.03

Break Up Letter Generator

wow!

now if only i've been a dumper myself. heheheheh.

16.11.03

Smart Badges For Better Meetings

nice piece of hardware... i wonder what would happen if all IDs were like this...

15.11.03

freaky Fridays!

to summarize my Friday: i got sick, i almost fully committed to meeting a business contact without the person who knew the contact, nor knowing the place to go to, and there was traffic all over. sucks.

i'm still a bit sick, and i still have to wash the car, but i might be asking for trouble if i actually strain myself loads with those chores...

in any case, at least i'm down to 180lbs now. heheheheh...

12.11.03

an open letter to the RIAA

this kinda makes me think about buying music in any format.

i can't believe that artists really make that little from labels. even though this has little bearing for me (being outside the US), it sure makes you think about that CD you've always wanted...

5.11.03

Ensembl Genome Browser

the Ensembl Genome Browser - cool resource for DNA stuff! and it's free too!

now if i can only find something of real use for this... heheh... =P

4.11.03

The AQ Test

introducing, the Autistic-Spectrum Quotient Test - now we'll see if we're really normal compared to the rest of the world.

this is NOT a replacement for actual diagnostic tests, so don't get any funny ideas with this now.

and in case anyone has any funny ideas with my score, i got a 13. ^_^

guide to Friendster pictures

this is neat - now you can tell what personality your Friendster-mates have. heheheh... (not to be taken seriously, okay?)

3.11.03

i want them to read this...

tomorrow, i'll want to print this article out and hand this to them.

of course, if i actually have the guts to do that. =P

i can't believe this place...


... sometimes i wonder what's exactly different about us here (at home). i can't go out as freely as i would want to, i can't stay out late as freely as i would like to, and i can't even socialise without Big Brother (read: my parents) constantly filtering and screening who i go out with. heck! some people are surprised i still have a curfew at home (loosely-defined - that's what makes it hard to understand).

i mean, sure, i'm still living with my parents, and i'm not exactly self-sufficient. but i'm already 23, for Pete's sake. i wish they would at least be aware by now that, if anything, i WANT to commit mistakes because of the decisions i make. at least that way i'll have no one to blame but myself. as it is, if i encounter something not nice or not to my liking this way, i'm bound to end up blaming THEM. if i don't find myself out of this situation, i'll find myself getting/selecting friends just like how i found myself getting my degree of "choice" in college - suggested rather forcibly. either that or i'll play the role of Mr. Rebel, which will be fun for a while until everything gets cut off from my world, and i'm forced to humble myself back to reality.

it sure sucks being forced to follow the path of twisted conservatism (IMHO).

anyway, it's just an hour or so before i finally get out on a date again, after so long (about a few months actually) - i hope people here will understand someday that, it has nothing to do with upbringing; i am like this - not anyone one else at home.

1.11.03

Linux-based PVR!

when i finally get around to ponying up for a new rig, i'll make sure to put this piece of software up for a whirl...

by that time i should've sold off my old DC30+ for something better - say, a Pro-One or an RT.X10. *grins* now if only i had the money to burn, and the sources to get them from...

*sigh* life sure sucks when you're the sort of person who needs a constant tech-fix that weighs in so much greater than your net income can actually sustain.

some random stuff i came up with for the day...

check out these links of interest:

- QuirksMode, for all your browser quirks: something interesting to take note of for web designers
- Car Care, Auto Detailing and Car Care Tips by Wax Station: for every car freak (like i'm slowly turning out to be)

(... hmm... i ought to get this car detailed sometime - God knows just how much i'd be spending for that though, as i really would like all those awful scratch marks gone...)

my brother and i finalised the reorganisation of this room of ours - it now resembles the room it's supposed to be (as opposed to the war zone that it used to be). thank goodness. now if only i can start work on these bookshelves...

more later.

31.10.03

Salon.com Technology | Hackers on Atkins

geeks rejoice!

now i can start losing all the weight i want to! *grins*

30.10.03

Saving the Browser

i thought that this might be interesting to those following the Eolas patent case. it interests me, since HTML may very well change with this case if nothing is done to stop it.

i got to be more careful with my blogs...

eclecticism > Even Microsoft wants G5s - and now the blogger needs to find a new job.

ouch.

26.10.03

back from hiber-nation

hmm. this update is long overdue. i've been meaning to post since last tuesday, but everytime i thought of it, the sloth monster just ran up to me and said, "hey, why don't you make that post later?"

and, being the nut that i am, obliged. all the time.

anyway, now that i've finally loaded up the blogger page, i guess i can finally sit down, have a glass of water (well, maybe not, since i can't find my mug), and work on this update.

i got the car re-aligned (covered under its most recent repair warranty) yesterday, and while there's stil a bit of drift on the wheel, it's not as bad as it was before, when i could actually turn a soft corner by just letting go of the steering wheel. and i also washed the car and decided to wax it - now it looks mighty clean! =) hopefully i'll be able to maintain that look... should get an electric buffer if i want to be able to wax the car easily though. oh, and there's also the matter of cleaning up the area under the wheel tonight... shouldn't take much time later.

hmm... i wonder how much a good strut bar is going for? i think that the car might just love to have one of those at the front... with the way i drive. heheheheh.

this is nutty - the PS2 is deciding to go fritzy on me again. now how the heck am i going to play my DDR?

hmm... have to stop this for now - gotta go help out with the rest of the world's problems. heheh. (read: my unfinished chores)

19.10.03

recruitment: day one

things went rather smoothly this morning as our choir went about its first day into "push recruiting" members by sending out fliers all around. we have one respondent already! =)

i took the liberty of taking my CliƩ apart today to fix the LCD problem i had a few days ago. and i also decided to try to repair the MS problem the device has been having, which has been causing me drained batteries of late. so far, so good...

hmm... nothing else in mind right now... maybe in a bit.

WLO: January/February 2000: Six degrees of separation

could this be the main reason behind all that appeal surrounding Friendster? maybe as human beings, we all desire to be able to see just how connected we are to the rest of the world, hence giving ourselves a bigger "meaning" for existence. hence we find ourselves closer (or the feeling of which) to finding out the true meaning of life...

18.10.03

Yahoo! News - Images Show a Snub Really Is Like Kick in the Gut

cool!

now the next time someone decides to snub me for something, i'll offer that person to kick me instead. =P

bored out of my head

i should be getting ready to go to Church, but for some reason, i'm still in front of our TV, composing this blog (thanks to the BB Unit my brother got for the PS2 - can't find any nice ENGLISH links for it right now). i still have to take a bath, eat breakfast and wash the car - all in time for 9am, our call time.

i am such a nut. n_n

*stretches* anyway, today President George W. Bush is due for an 8-hour visit in the country. let's hope nothing foul runs astray into this grand setup of things. i, for one, am confident that this visit will bring about more good than bad for everyone concerned.

15.10.03

looking back

i was looking through my own archives just now, and i realised how long it's been since i started blogging, many thanks to sacha. =)

looking at my first post, i guess this means that i'll be "celebrating" my 7th month blogging on the coming 23rd of the month. heheh...

my mind is idling... can't wait to idle and doodle some more on my blog tonight...

googling through Friendster

just to pass the time, i'm browsing through the "cloud" of people that i'm connected to on Friendster. if you haven't bothered signing up yet, i'd have to wonder why not.

but then again, not everyone has the time to link up to people online - most would just link up with others on a more personal level.

14.10.03

THE PASSION: Mel Gibson Film THE PASSION of Jesus with Caviezel and Bellucci

something to look forward to next year (probably in time for the Holy Week).

12.10.03

in a blink of an eye

just like that, my weekend just whizzed past me. i wish it wouldn't do that too often...

that isn't to say that i didn't get to achieve some nice things though...

1- signed up with Friendster, via an invitation from sacha. it's very reminiscent of since-changed sixdegrees, with so much less of the clutter that it used to have. hmm. i wonder if their service improved over the years...
2- amazing what the telco industry has done. i get to meet someone i've been curious about since my college years via email/ICQ, maintain it for a period of time, and with a flick of the Call button on my mobile phone, i set up a short (~ 5 minutes) meet with her in Ateneo. can't wait to get to meet her again for a more extended period of time.
3- coaxed my brother to buy pizza today (bacon cheeseburger, cheese-stuffed crust - mmm!), and i'm hoping that he'll be coaxable next time when i have those urges. =)
4- washed the car today, and i think i might have scratched the car up AGAIN. darn. speaking of the car, i have my Snoopy stuffed toy (the huge one i got from Watsons) as my regular passenger, plus my iRiver SlimX, connected to the car stereo via a locally-purchased converter (power and tape deck).
5- i'm still trying out (in vain) the PS2 exploit which should allow a user to run code from the memory card - i'm just playing around with the idea, but so far i haven't gotten ANYTHING to work. =P
6- it's - HOLY CRAP - 12a, and i have to go sleep now. =P

7.10.03

English - Filipino dictionary!

wow! i had no ideas such words existed!
finally set up an email address on Yahoo - will be using that for emailing via my mobile phone (over WAP/GPRS).

speaking of Yahoo, i just noticed that i can't use YM over WAP anymore. strange.

i'm wondering where i can host pictures online for my blog... i'd love to pepper my blogs w/ picures someday.

tomorrow i go through personal evaluation to see where exactly in MIS i fit. hoping for the best...
i finally get to drive our car out for work starting tomorrow - i'm not totally excited though... i wonder if it would mean more freedom or more burden for me, as now my parents will be more expectant of me to get home early.

i've set up my Yahoo! Mail, just so i can have e-mail access via my mobile phone. hopefully this would be something useful for me later on as i go along with things.

i was cleaning up some of my sister's recordings here last Saturday for a presentatinon, but i'm so sleepy i don't mind having to work on it tomorrow...

i really wish i could drive the other one though... more wishful thinking on my part...

5.10.03

now that sacha seems to have let up with our e-mail exchanges for the meantime, i'll get back to posting what i had in mind to post.

we had Ed Manguiat of the Singing Ambassadors with us last night, and he was just amazing. we've known quite a few of the theories he mentioned to us, but we never really were able to found a way to actually get those theories to work - and that's where he really has helped so far. amazing how much change i heard last night, with only a few vocalisation exercises... it's looking like he's really excited to help us out too... must be because he's a friend of our choirmate's mom/aunt... =)

i'm in the hunt for a PS2 Linux distro - hopefully i'll be able to get a copy for use with ours, since my brother just got an HDD+NIC.

btw, i have a bone to pick with the Burger King branch over at Marcos Highway - apparently their staff can't manage with bulk orders the size of our choir (we're talking about 15 people here) over the counter. talk about insane. they take our orders, we get meals that are either ordered, but not punched, or punched, but wasn't actually ordered. cool. =
*sigh* i'm watching Game 2 of the Ateneo - FEU match, and i'm really feeling the possibility of loss... ah well... still hoping for the best though...

4.10.03

*yawn*

sitting beside a dog and a cat...

i'm right here beside Hello Kitty and Snoopy - at least that's what they think they are. =P

sacha just gave me even more headaches with that sort problem i gave her - i guess i ought to up the ante and find some other problem for her to sort out. she DID have a point with the efficiency problem...

a funny thing with the light pointed at our altar by the hallway - every so often it just turns on by itself. why or how it happens is beyond me. thankfully it did that this time when we have more people around...

... and i think these two pets are slowly showing effects of sleep deprivation. i ought to scuttle them off to sleep soon... eh, the sooner they tire, the better. =)

28.9.03

UK TV Advert Music Database, and then some...

suddenly i want to come up with a service similar to this on a more local/global scale... not a bad idea, if you ask me...

have a badminton game later tonight - i ought to sharpen my skills on that game some more, as i played terribly the last time i did.

my PDA died on me yesterday, so i've been prompted to do a hard reset, and start all over from scratch. good thing i synced prior to the crash...

27.9.03

amazing optical illusions!

i just _had_ to come back and post about THIS one!

random bits

this is cool - some guy's art. weird and interesting, to say the least.

i saw sacha last night, but i didn't get to introduce myself to her. darn. there'll be a next time, for sure... and i was reading through her wiki again last night, and noticed a cute article she wrote on relating with her. does that mean i have to up my geekiness notch to get to know her? i hope i don't have to go overboard on that.

she also has another reflection along the same tune (this time on marriage), which is also an interesting read.

i'm listening/watching the TV right now, to the tune of F4 songs... eech. at least i get to know what the rest of the Philippines is going nuts over once in a while. it pays to be updated.

i have a video editing session to work on next week - i gotta clear up my previous work from this PC - move them to VHS (or VCD/DVD) before next week comes around.

13.9.03

Mailinator

if you've ever needed an email address for a few hours, then go check this out.

i can think of a few situations where i'll need to get an email address to pass around... heheh... this is going to be fun. =)

11.9.03

trying things out...

i've decided to get some more stuff for my blog, like this cool subscription mode for my blog - God knows just who would actually bother to sign up, but it'd be nice to know anyway. =)

i feel stupid... everyone i've ever liked so far already has a significant other. is it just me or am i just feeling the "pressures" of a loveless, girlfriend-less state?

7.9.03

okay, so Globe has limited WAP browsing now, though it did help us get the number of Kamayan West Avenue on the road... =)

have to start video editing soon, otherwise i'm bound to miss the deadline being imposed on me. i wish they wouldn't do that... i didn't ask for this, and it's not like i'm really benefitting from it... =(

2.9.03

sucky - not only did i lose access to the wapblogging link, apparently my cellular telco has actually denied access to every single site outside of their "accepted list".

so much for free WAP over GPRS (and vice versa). i'm expecting that they'll start charging for the service too - eh, let's hope for the best...

i wonder what's in store for me today... wish i get lots of gifts... (yeah, right... like i were still a kid who'd keep getting toys and money for birthdays - nowadays it's more like I'M expected to shell out).

31.8.03

irritations!

i guess the hey-days of blogging via WAP was doomed to be short-lived.

Globe has decided to block off my access to that gateway, so i guess i'm stuck to blogging the usual way again. either that or i let myself get slapped a fee for every Kb i transmit. i should try that out sometime. who knows, maybe it doesn't need to transmit that much data after all.

i wonder if asking them nicely would do any good...

28.8.03

i had my mom get of one of those baby socks being sold by those sidewalk vendors for use with my T610 - i think it has some scratches already, and i'm not too happy with that.

i can't seem to receive MMS with this thing. maybe i got a setting made up incorrectly. a call to Globe ought to be in order.

26.8.03

damn, i left my wallet at home. good thing it isn't too hard to borrow small amounts of money from people here, though to be sure, i went straight to my cousin. n_n

25.8.03

i'm not going to get used to the charging habits i'm going to have to practice with this phone. halfway through the day and my battery's already down to 50 percent! i'm not even browsing that much anymore-i even took out vibrating alerts.

ah well. at least it's still a change. =)
i reviewed my posts last night and found out that, due to connection issues encountered with GPRS, i had multiple entries of one post sometimes. that's a minor point to deal with.

i'm a bit worried right now, with my WAP-browsing frequency. if my carrier decides to start charging for this, it WILL hurt.

24.8.03

what a night! those guys were just BRILLIANT! and Moxie gets to date one of the boys-i believe she's dating Robby. i do hope that other Monica (the girl who took her contact info for that date thing she won at) follows up with her on that.

this came at a price, however. my sister and i got home past 1p already, which is quite a bit of a stretch here at home.

23.8.03

no wonder our seats are this good, this effortlessly... these are GenTXT-reserved seats! eh, not MY concern. heheh. =P
... and we're in! and we got a good place too-front and side. (if you've been to the Forum, you'll know what i mean) my lungs are going to get clogged with stale cigarette smoke pretty soon though. let's hope this is worth all the hassle and effort. greets in out to my buddies here with me now-mox, joyce, mira, andre, jano, and myself. *grins*
i'm at the Forum right now, standing in line, getting ready to watch the Akafellas,an acapella singing group. this is the first time i'm going out on an engagement like this this late into the night. not to mention actually spending quite a bit to watch a singing group. this is going to be cool! more later... =)

22.8.03

lo, and behold!
there has been improvements and updates since my last post:

for one thing, the template i'm using has been changed - subjected to editing, of course.

i've also decided to get the T610, as i was lucky enough to find someone selling it for just P16.5k - and that's where i composed this post. cool, isn't it??

15.8.03

to get a T610 or not to get a T610... that is the question.

12.8.03

right now i'm thinking of this short-lived (?) telenovela that aired on ABC 5 a long while back, when i was still in grade/high school i think - Criselda...

now if anyone can remember the lead actress's name, please drop me a note...

11.8.03

i'm bored. and i've been really terrible with keeping updated with posts.

but what significant thing has happened to me of late? hmm... these days my mobile phone is slowly showing more and more signs of wear and tear. i'm getting irritated, and am slowly becoming more and more tempted to replace it the moment that my unit becomes too unbearable to use. i'm thinking of getting a T610 next...

why am i jumping the Nokia bandwagon? i feel that their prices are bloating up so much simply because of the brand. and i don't want to pay for an additional premium of a brand name. this is debatable, however, depending on what other features i find that are in a former replacement unit of choice, the Nokia 7650 that can't be found in that unit. eh, whatever. it HOPEFULLY won't be an issue for the next 6 months... =)

i better have something up tomorrow... i'm really slow of late... =(

6.8.03

i can't believe i've been disconnected for THIS long!

not to mention that i wasn't able to post for so long already... will make it up to everyone in the coming days. =)

20.7.03

i'm back! heheh...

let's see - what happened to me during my week-long hibernation? i went to a friend's wedding last friday, went out on a lunch date yesterday (and also had to report to work afterwards), and spent the entire day looking at the new 2003 Lancer MX, and checking out modding services for our Playstation 2.

plus i've been spending time playing Ragnarok Online too - cool game. =)

and i've been pretty much burning the fone line here every night. =P

other than that, nothing much has been up with my life.

i do intend to talk about something maybe later or in a day or two. for now, i'll just hang on to that thought. =)

13.7.03

i ought to take the time to catch up on Zs...

i had a blast last nite! i didn't expect things to go that well... am very thankful that my parents let me out last night, and that things went pretty much without a hitch. =) i can't be made to elaborate on things here, though... it's just a bit too public for me to just flaunt and show/tell the world.

i got to do video editing later - this is really tiring work... =\

12.7.03

T-11h45m...

i still have quite a bit to video edit, but i'm confident that i can work on that tomorrow... i will want to encode the material later though...

my sister's watching Meteor Garden right now - managed to scrounge up a VCD set.

listening to Jars of Clay right now - i really like their music... so much that i'm slowly trying to explore other CCM artists, like Sonic Flood...

i'm going to drive my siblings over to Villman later to have my sister's laptop checked out - apparently its Monitor Out feature only works when you boot up the thing with a device connected to it already.

i swear... after-sales support here in most places tend to suck, really.

11.7.03

just a bit of trivia: half the genes from a banana is in our bodies...
i guess now i can truly say that i'm half a banana... =P

got my blind date tomorrow with Paula (not the one i had talked about earlier in my posts)... can't wait!

7.7.03

think eight glasses of H2O is enough? think again.

6.7.03

a Lite Brite(tm) simulator on the web! i remember wanting to have one of these cute toys when i was a kid... thanks to Lockergnome for the link.

i got spam (no, not the edible kind) from these people. seriously, these people ought to think a little more when they start doing things like this - they're bound to get themselves in trouble.

i've been elected secretary for my choir - i've got many plans set right now.

tasklist for my plans for the choir as secretary:
- find webhosting and create website for the group (it's not just a name - it's a way of life), or something like that.
- find a way to fix up all the acetates we have in the choir. storage and sorting will pose to be the biggest problem i'll be dealing with.
- find most efficient way to store our chorale pieces, probably via digitizing them and/or encoding into MIDI via Sibelius.
- come up with new plans for the newsletter - i'm thinking of producing two versions: a paper version, and a digital version. i'll try to make some material available exclusive for either format. at least this will solve the problem of having to figure out how to print pictures on paper. this will coincide with the website we'll come up with.

my friend in the choir sort of introduced me to px, not really thinking of anything, and not really expecting anything either. but now, i'm really finding myself enjoying conversations with her. i started sending her SMS last Sunday, and started calling her the Monday proceeding then, and haven't stopped being pleased with talking with her ever since... and get this, we seem to have so many similarities between each other... amazing! the last time i got to know someone who had similarities with me was anna, and we weren't even as similar as how px and i are so far... if i didn't know any better, i'm talking with a gender-shifted mirror image of myself... heheheheheh... that's an exaggeration, of course, but still.

there was a funny thing with our conversation last night. out of the blue, i sorted of blurted out what i thought she'd wear to the group date thing we'll have next week - black pencil skirt, 1-2in stilettos - and with a creepy realisation, found out that i guessed right. coincidence? i don't know...

egad. it's been more than a week since i last posted... gotta be more diligent next time.

27.6.03

now THAT was one heck of a time stamp! ^_^
i've done some editing on my blog - i got a commenting service up for it now, so IF only more people were to read my blogs, maybe they'd be able to leave notes and stuff. plus this new interface off Blogger is cool!

we didn't have electricity last night, owing to a busted meter base... not that we minded the power loss. what really ticked us all off was the slow service of Meralco in getting their service people over here to take a look-see. we got back electricity at home past 1p today!... pfft.

i can't wait to get to read the Order of the Phoenix! every p2p network out there must have it around by now, but i wonder when i'll get around to landing my paws on a copy... hopefully soon enough.

my worst night so far has been last Tuesday - imagine, having to sleep at 345a of the following day! that was probably due to the video editing task i had to work on... but i can't shake off the feeling that this someone at work made me lose sleep too - i don't want to go into detail, but i really think that it's rude of her to do whatever she keeps doing to me. as i have said before, and she calls herself a Christian. hmph.

hmm... i can't believe i survived work yesterday with that little sleep. in fact, i can't believe i'm still awake right now...

*poof*

23.6.03

post-EB reflection:
meeting Gianna made me realise that i have kept myself inside a shell (well, for the most part anyway) ever since i started working...

finding time to meet someone over in Manila (when i live way yonder here in Marikina) also made me realise that, if i really want to make time for other things in life, i'll be able to make the time for it. it isn't a question of IF i have time to do things; it's a question of whether i WANT to have time for other things.

*yawn* i am so sleepy... i ought to be doing some video editing right now, but something inside my head (the stress most likely) is telling me to just hit the hay and sleep...

hmm, maybe i'll just give myself about 30mins for it...

21.6.03

can't sleep... meeting Gianna for the first time, and my body is instinctively breaking out in a state of sleeplessness due to the anxiety/excitement/thrill of the whole notion of meeting her.

... it's so great to be in this state again...

okay, back to the bed now - i don't have my glasses, and i'm having a hard time touch-typing this document, all the while squinting at the monitor to check if i've typed out my post well.

17.6.03

just saw this really cool "Sixth Sense"-ish movie - but i'm telling you, it's more than that... i really wish it were that easy to get a copy of this movie here though...

i couldn't get in touch with Gianna tonight - apparently she went off to sleep early. anyway, there's always tomorrow. funny how one night of not getting to talk with her sort of made me feel like there was something missing to my night though... *sigh* anyway, tomorrow... heheh. =)

i should be getting my own sleep too... i'm losing so much sleep of late. i just wish it directly related with weight loss... i wouldn't sleep in that case! heheheh...

15.6.03

attended the wedding of my officemate today - really fun... and crowded too. =P

ah, my weekend was really pathetic - i didn't manage to do that reinstallation, but at least now my brother is going to help me with it now... nice! =)

i met someone new over the weekend - makes up for my not being allowed to go to Cebu for the long weekend. she sounds like a nice person, though she claims that she's not exactly an ideally nice person. i'm rather excited to get to know more about her primarily because it's been quite a while since i tried mingling with total strangers... not that i don't like it that way, but it's a rarity these days for me, with the oh-so-dead social life that i maintain. =P add the fact that she seems to be very different, yet strangely familiar to me, as far as who she maintains herself to be is concerned...

i also had a really nice conversation with Paula tonight - she's a really nice person... i hope i get to know her more as the days go by.

hmm... my choirmates (AJ and Moxie) scoffed at me when i told them i wasn't girl-crazy... i wonder if i really AM NOT who i think i am... =\

13.6.03

the person who's saved over a billion people... wonder why _he_ isn't popular? read the article...
i've begun restructuring my Windows 98SE partition from ground zero, meaning that i reformatted and started all over - this is for that partition - my Windows XP partition is still alive. =)

since i want my A/V editing rig as perfect as possible, i've started collecting stuff to put into it again... so far i have these titles up in the queue:
- Adobe Premiere 6.5
- Adobe After Effects 5.0
- Cakewalk Sonar 2.0
- Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0
- Sonic Foundry Acid Pro 4.0

i'll also start tossing support apps into them, such as plugins for Sound Forge, transition software for Premiere, etc... =)

i've been hearing so much about Meteor Garden so far that i've decided to go buy myself a copy of the entire 1st season... call me sucker, but it's amazing how popular it's actually become...

hmm... Adobe is coming up with a DVD authoring package - should take note of that...

i think my head hurts from too much sugar intake this afternoon after our choir practice... should not have taken that much gulaman... heheh. *cringes*

9.6.03

wow! talk about a cool thing to have in a garden! i wish i had the time to actually make this though. i'm sure that it can't be TOO hard to build, now that someone has the idea out... =)

looking to skin your Windows XP desktop to something a bit rebellious? check out this site, which features a pretty complete list (and download) for anything you'll need to make things look a lot different.

now if i could just get one of those cool TFT monitors for use with my rig...

speaking of rigs, i really should get around to assembling myself a new rig someday... this one is clearly showing its age...

5.6.03

enter a new era of p2p software - BitTorrent.

heheheh... actually i know so little about it, but it claims that the more people downloading from one source, the faster the downloads go for everyone! just check out their website for info on it... =)

the reason why i bumped into it is because a friend of mine pointed out to me that Return To Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free multiplayer-only download, and weighing in at a staggering 260mb, he advised me to try getting it the BitTorrent way.

so far so good. but i have yet to see spectacular download times coming from it. maybe it's just chance... i'll just try downloading a few more items using it and see whether it really is a good bit of p2p software. =)

UPDATE: i've decided to NOT use BitTorrent for now - it turns out Destiny Cable has it hosted on their FTP server. i'm sure it'll be loads faster from there. =)

4.6.03

i've already seen TWO Microsoft Smartphone-based mobile phones around (and this is just in the office), so for anyone who actually finds themselves here, i've got links for you on a review on the HTC Canary (which is the first version of Smart Telecommunication's "Smart Amazing Phone" - see their press release here), and a phone based on the HTC Tanager (which is the upgraded design of the Microsoft Smartphone that the "Smart Amazing Phone" is based on). i also saw some sites for software downloads for the device, and i'll post some i see next time. this isn't something i'll be shelling out my hard-earned cash on, though. =P

egad, it's 11pm already?? i can't believe it... *sighs* i've got to go rest (again) so that i won't fall asleep midway at work - tomorrow seems like it's gonna be a killer. at least the weekend's just around the corner... =)

1.6.03

dinner: had a bite of tuna sashimi, and a huge amount of fluid - i average about a liter of water every meal, assuming i have the right tumbler out (i'm using the one that Wendy's used to have on promotion, the one that could hold about 900+ml).

looks like i've been turned into the home masseur - my parents seem to enjoy my massages quite a lot... if i were really good, i'd say that i have no idea how i became that good.

i've been hearing SOOOOOOO much about Meteor Garden for the past few days, so i've decided to do some research, and put up a link or two for them - my sister is considering getting a copy of the series on VCD, and if she does, well, i'll get to watch and comment about it. assuming, of course, that it can actually stay here at home for more than a few days after everyone in our circles find out. this link has episode summaries and stuff, but it's down most of the time. maybe this other link would be much more helpful. and i just found out that there's actually a second series for it already. talk about popularity.

oh, also, speaking of popularity, some people might be interested to know that it's actually banned in China - in all forms legal anyway. =P

and in case some people want to petition for a relocation of the show's timeslot (as aired on ABS-CBN these days), you could try checking out this link - it has 497 online signatures at the time of writing. it could also help to bombard the TV station about inquiries on moving its time schedule or what-not.

*whew* IF i actually chance to watch an episode, i hope i won't turn into the mindless zombie that couch potatoes usually turn into. heheh.
weather's finally gotten better now, though rain still comes around with quite an intensity every so often.

i found some really nice articles on last Friday's issue of the Philippine Star. a very excerpt from the article (which i have linked from their website) puts the whole thought of the article as simply as it should - "We are victims of indiscipline. We are our own worst enemies. We sabotage our own quality of life as a matter of course.". unfortunately, i can't find a link for the other one, which talks about an actor's ordeal lesson on how he quit smoking - maybe i'll try to ask permission to publish it here - if not, well, go ask me in private and i'll probably mail it to you. =)

my brother is processing something on his login again, so i'm forced to delay whatever recreation i had in mind on this workstation until much later, when he lets me log on, since i wouldn't want to cause any undue hassles with whatever _he's_ doing. pfft. anyway, i've been tardy on my blogs again anyway...

i have got to start losing weight! practically everyone i know has started to notice, and that isn't a good sign at all! my personal deadline: 30 days. and i have 3 "bets" to back that up.

anyway, i got dinner to attend to. later...

27.5.03

it's been raining cats and dogs for the past couple of days now, and it's finally looking like it's going to let up now...

the weather over at my office is terrible. since we're just practically by the bayside, the winds can get extremely gusty, which translates to rain that rarely pour downwards. so bad that i've been asking my dad to fetch me from work these past two days already. interestingly enough, our travel time tonight from my office going home was a mere 50-somthing minutes! compare that to my average travel time of 2 hours...

the remote of my Clié got busted last Sunday, so now i'm in the search for a brand-new one to replace it... either that or i find a way to repair the darned thing.

Windows XP is acting up on our machine again... that pretty much limits my surfing time even further... God knows what i'll need to do to get this system back to normal...

other than that, hmm... i guess nothing else seems worth blogging at this time...

25.5.03

things that transpired over the week -

- one of the screws at the back of my Clié fell out, and now it's missing one screw to hold it together. it's liveable, but i'll definitely want to find a replacement screw for that, and make sure that i'll be able to thread it better.
- watched Matrix Reloaded last night with my sister and Moxie, and through the teeth-chattering blast of air-conditioning practically pointed at our seats, had a really wonderful time. i do not think that it was just an action movie, as some reviews i've read online have said, but the relationship between Neo and Trinity was surely something that didn't need that much embellishing... i hope that the movie isn't boiling down into some sex- and action-driven plot.
- i'm montoring my weight so much more these days. i'm actually bloating up these past few months, and that's something i simply refuse to let happen.
- furthest-driven point on my own so far: Legaspi Village, Makati. latest time out driving on my own: 1030p (from watching the movie).
- bought a couple of CD-Rs and DVD-RWs for use with our system - will come in handy for those custom-made DVDs that we'd like to test out before committing a final burn (my Snoopy video collection in particular).
- saw a Nokia 3650 up close and personal - looks like a slightly better version of the 7650 (despite the numbering). nice phone, but i'm still very much happy and not parting with my ultracool Nokia 6150.
- my cousin's son (Cedric Nygel) was christened today, so we had lunch out - nice cozy place gone awry with a tad bit too many guests.

i must have some more details i wanna talk about that i haven't put up here, but i'll try posting some more as i remember them tonight. =)

20.5.03

i haven't posted the pictures in yet, but just look over my photo page every once in a while to check if i've posted them in...

by the way, winter, whoever you are, thanks. =)

speaking of pictures, i was finally able to bring home pictures from the last anniversary from our company - i was part of a presentation, and there were pics of me taken, and i've been dying to get my hands on them... am glad i finally have them without asking anyone else to help me retrieve it... =)

i talked with paula today - and it was fun, getting in touch with someone i've pretty much lost contact with already... and another friend of mine actually e-mailed me today - he saw my name on one of the mailing lists i frequent, and he wrote me... hi tonichi. =)

gee... it's approaching 11p already? this is what i have to bear with by working practically on opposite ends of the metropolis... i'll never get used to this setup.

18.5.03

i just came back from our outing today - i pretty much swam the entire day, and i took loads of pictures too... i'll link them all in next time, when i download them off the camera, and upload them to the internet.

i'll explain some more tomorrow - too sleepy to continue...

15.5.03

i've been tardy on my posts yet again! argh!

i can't believe it's been four days since my last post - what have i been doing anyway?

well, i still haven't got a haircut yet. and i still haven't started working on those schematics. plus i've got about a couple of tasks to finish before the day is up.

a few things i want to take note of:
- i've been gaining back lost sleep lately, mostly because i've been turning in before 11p - a bit unusual for me since i used to sleep after well after that.
- i borrowed a copy of "The Eye" yesterday, and i must say, it's a really wicked movie! i've got to get my own copy of it so that i can watch it in the comfort of the morning... =P
- we're having a badminton (and possibly a volleyball) game on Saturday. this should be fun, although it's kinda lessened since Barzee probably won't make it - we made such a great tandem last year. i hope his replacement would be reasonably good too... i'd sure hate to lose. =P
- i have software on my Clié that can actually play those old LucasArts DOS games such as Monkey Island... that is simply way too cool to ignore. of course, it serves me more as a technology demo rather than an actual new game for my PDA - it's just too frickin' slooow!
- i decided to clear out all the pictures on my digital camera in anticipation for the activities lined up for my weekend... =)
- i'm also thinking of going to Cebu sometime soon. i'm wondering if my parents would let me rush off to foreign lands alone though. if they do, i'm planning to be there 12 - 14 June. or if not, sometime September, near my birthday... =)

okay, that's about it for now.

11.5.03

i got to talk with Synara again today - and we're re-planning our meet some time before May is up. cool!

i was reading sacha's wiki again today, and noticed that she loves chess - i don't like it to an addiction, nor am i any expert at it, but i'm okay with the game... programmers seem to love chess, don't they? i really should get around to meeting her soon... also, i wonder if she reads my blog posts every once in a while... heheh...

i'm going to start chalking up design schematics with my sister for the top-secret website we were planning some time ago - it's long overdue, after all.

hmm... i still haven't got my hair cut... tsk tsk... where am i to go for a hair trimming?

i just came back from a surprise party for my cousin today - and was he surprised. =) that also meant that there was so much food to consume, and i guess i found myself pigging out again... out the window my diet just went again... *sigh* i have GOT to take more extreme actions to further any weight loss on my part.

10.5.03

*yawn* my schedule totally went bonkers today.

7a - 830a: planned to play badminton with my siblings. instead, a light drizzle at 715a stopped our play early. to compensate for the lost exercise, i then decided to play a little DDR with my sis.

9a - 1030a: planned to have my hair cut with my brother and my grandfather, but the barber shop we frequented just wasn't open... to be sure, i checked again at 10a and then yet another time at 4p. no dice. my dad brought them both to have their hair cuts elsewhere.

1p - 3p: was supposed to meet with Synara at her place, but she suddenly requested that we met some other time.

i hope my schedule never becomes this messy anymore.

EGAD! i just remembered that i have to scan up these orchid books that were lent to me... how the heck am i going to finish them? to be safe, in case i can't work on all the pages of the book, i'll just scan in the ones that were specifically set aside for scanning.

i've started trying to recruit new members into the choir from my neighborhood - i have at least one of them who's interested with the idea...

*yawn* i better sleep now... we do sing 6a every Sunday, after all...
hmm... scripts are working, and website's okay - but no visitors... heheh. at least, none yet anyway.

my friend just called in on my mobile phone over from Ilo-Ilo - turns out UFC-Heinz is holding his money until mid-June after they found out that he's resigning. he complied with whatever grace period was required by his contract for resignations, but i don't see why he has to have to wait that long until he gets his money (he leaves the company mid-May). i don't know much about the situation, but if it wasn't stipulated in his contract(s), why must he suffer like this? now i'll be lending him off some money for him to survive for the time being.

i hope he'll be okay...
hmm... scripts are working, and website's okay - but no visitors... heheh. at least, none yet anyway.

my friend just called in on my mobile phone over from Ilo-ilo - turns out UFC-Heinz is holding his money until mid-June after they found out that he's resigning. he complied with whatever grace period was required by his contract for resignations, but i don't see why he has to have to wait that long until he gets his money (he leaves the company mid-May). i don't know much about the situation, but if it wasn't stipulated in his contract(s), why must he suffer like this? now i'll be lending him off some money for him to survive for the time being.

i hope he'll be okay...

9.5.03

ahhh... i believe these scripts are good to go now. i had to realign them a bit (the normal code came with CENTER metatags) to suit my taste and motif, but otherwise they're okay... plain and simple.

lemme just tweak this a bit more - i'll want to have the guestbook window open up its own window, so we'll insert some changes to make that work, but other than that, this is all pretty good already.

first, my blog - tomorrow, the WORLD!

heheheh... as if. =P

8.5.03

after some deliberation, i've decided to try out CGISpy.com to enable my blog with CGI scripts - counters and stuff... i won't really work on much tonight - except that i really would want to put up the counter and the guestbook before i hit the hay.

i'll try putting the code in now, and i'll post again once i'm happy and content with everything...

7.5.03

i've taken to playing DDR again... am a bit irritated, having to play them on our antiquated PlayStation, and only playing up to the 4th installment of the series - and it's already well off to the 7th... maybe i could coax my brother to get me a PS2 version someday... =P

... this is a fun link for DDR freaks - it describes how to make an arcade-style DDR pad... now if i had the space to put that here, i'd do it...

and speaking of DDR, the fanaticism for that game has definitely died down here... unlike in Japan, where some guy literally blew away any standing records on scores recently. check this Japanese dude out! yowza!

my good friend kidded me about putting up a gossip column - if you're reading this, i'll tell you that i'll consider it only if i had enough dirt to lay down on people. and a private army to keep me safe from harm. heheh. if anyone else has some ideas for my blogging habits, don't hesitate to drop me a line (by clicking on my name just below my post).

5.5.03

besides the counter, i'd also like to look for some sort of guestbook/comments entry system up for my blog page... gotta remind myself about that.

my brother's peacefully snoring the night away behind me right now.
why doesn't he ever decide to turn in early to bed anyway?

well, i don't care whether he doesn't turn in to bed early or not - i'm going...
dammit!
these guys are giving up their free service - and i had plans to fix up my website there... ah well - now i'll have to resort to using another one of these guys' famous services.

in any given case, this means i'll start peppering my blogs with pictures! heheh! actually, i should have started doing this sooner - it just never really occurred to me to do so. now i have seen the error of my ways and will now try posting with image links now... =)

- here's a cool shot of the Clié i talked about some time ago.
- here's a wonderful picture of the Snoopy stuffed toy i decided to buy for myself a few days ago (i couldn't post then - something was preventing me from loading the blogger pages properly).
- this site has a review on one of my most recent purchases, and i can say that i'm very pleased with it, even if it does look weird here at home.

not much else i have for tonight... as for the website i had planned earlier, i'll probably host it up somewhere else someday - i just don't have the patience to be concerned about it for now.

3.5.03

i've started sketching up plans for my other website.
- will have to maintain pics there for linking from my blog.
- will have to maintain other coherent material there, i.e., poems, songs, etc.
- will want a minimalist design for it.

am also considering getting "special" contact lenses by the end of the quarter... like those found here.

am also considering getting a counter for this frickin' blog page... =P
i feel really sick to myself tonight. i feel like i'm on narcotics and floating high up and my head's so detached to my body.

i'm feeding myself with sappy sentimental songs right now - just being the typical masochist that i am.

last Thursday i got an unexpected wake-up call from a stranger. there was nothing weird about the wake-up call - in fact you could say that i had it coming - but the person who delivered that wake-up call to me was what really hit me hard. it was a text message from my ex's boyfriend.

[FLASHBACK]i had a girlfriend a little over a year ago... at the time, i really thought things were going well between us. i was as unrestrictive as i could be, and i trusted her with everything that could, even if it hurt every so often. and i had a hard time proving to my family that she was okay (i'm Chinese, and she isn't, and there's this unwritten law that makes inter-cultural relationships such a big no-no) - eventually i did succeed convincing them to see things on my side. and then shortly afterwards, she breaks up with me because her family didn't approve of me.[/FLASHBACK]

*sigh* honestly speaking, in my mind, i was wondering whether we'd get back together. in fact, i went so far as to imagine that, maybe, she doesn't have a boyfriend yet, and is wondering of the same thing.

well, i guess not.

the weirder thing about all this is that, i had really thought that i had moved on from the ordeal - it's been a year, after all... again, i guess not. the wound she left was deeper, much deeper than i had earlier thought.

i wish i have a hole to dig myself into to hide in until my emotions tide over... but this is life. i have to pick myself up as soon as i possibly could, even if i continue spolling blood as i go...

27.4.03

i've taken to reading e-books off my Clié - whle i haven't started reading them all, these books may be interesting.
- "The Action Principles" - can supposedly "bring peace and prosperity into your life." who knows?
- "The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms - a classic Chinese novel. taken from the website, "[w]ritten 600 years ago, it tells the epic of Han Dynasty in China during the 2nd and 3rd century."

okay, i don't have _that_ many right now, but i do intend to keep reading books as long as i could find time to. =)

i've also taken to playing old games - check this site out.

my choir had a really nice bowling game today - my group won! (i forgot the scores, but i'll put it in someday.) and then i also played a little billiards too - i can really say that, playing Virtual Pool 3 on my PC really made a difference with my actual billiards playing experience. maybe i should look for my copy and play with it again on my PC...

darn, i still don't have an article for the choir's newsletter... better come up with one real soon.

26.4.03

talk about a rough night.

the moment i stepped in our home, i had to do a quick double take back out, because something was up with our choir - messy business, but someone has to step up to do something, if possible...

we'll see tomorrow how things pan out.

on another note, an officemate of mine has finally started talking with me again, after a month of silent treatment... you can say i'm very much pleased that things are looking like they'll be normal again... really wish i knew how it all really started though, but the details are only a nice-to-have... i'll always remember her when i go buy macapuno from now on... =P

my close friend at work didn't report for work today - i do hope she's alright...

22.4.03

reminder to self: do not spend on items that are considered unnecessary anymore.

rationale? i've been spending so much of my money, i'm actually finding my savings barely moving... and that's not good for an employee who's been working for over a year already. i gotta shape up my spending habits and make my expenses more strictly monitored from now on.

that being said, i might be selling my Palm m505 away, complete a 16MB SD card, the foldable keyboard and the Bluetooth module. assuming anyone who reads this is interested, post me and i'll consider it.

i see the Sandman coming to get me now... i better get ready before it hits me unexpectedly.

17.4.03

i've been away so long, i can't even remember when i last posted...

anyway, i've finally got that darned PDA working - only in Japanese, but it's liveable.

what has happened for the past few days to me?

well, last Monday (if i'm not mistaken), i unknowingly brought down a particular service in the company, crippling operations for everyone for at least 5 hours. and honestly, i feel really stupid having done that. but mistakes are there for learning. so i fall, and i pick myself up, and learn from the mistake.. i sure hope i don't commit any more of those mistakes.

things i'm looking forward to this Holy Week:
- sleep!
- reinstallation of my video editing OS / partition
- installation of Clié apps, and preparation of large databases / apps for installation into a Memory Stick (once i get around to getting one)
- finishing my MIDI transcriptions for choir use
- more sleep!

this should do for now...

13.4.03

after being away from posts for the past few days, i have finally finished reflashing my Clié. and it still doesn't work! the entire silkscreen still refuses to accept any input.

so i have decided to go and reflash it back to Japanese. i have been very disappointed, but not unfazed, by this.

of course, my disappointments would have stopped there had this computer store understood what i was asking from them from the start.

it all started with my fascination to purchase a Creative SurroundStation for my speaker setup. i had asked from one of their Makati branches about how much it would cost, and they told me that it was going for P2.5k. i was excited at the thought - it would be rather cheap for the purpose... and then when i decided to try to actually get it from another branch, they mistook my query for some other product. the reason? they didn't understand my query for the SurroundStation, and assumed it for speaker stands. and it'll cost me P5.8k.

pfft. now i'm thinking of just getting it online.

as for the Clié - i think there's still hope for it.

11.4.03

i've been away for quite a while, and for good reason - i'm mad at work finishing flashing this PDA of mine even as i type right now - i just can't wait to have it up and running already.

expect me to be non-exist with posts for some more time...

on another note, i will be getting a
Creative Surroundstation
for my 4.1 speaker setup, to clean up our oh-so messy room on Saturday... will talk about that when i have that set up already. all i'm worried about with it right now is how i'll exactly carry it home, since according to the specs i've read, it'll weigh in at a whopping 10kg.

anyway, i still have 10+ sectors to go... woohoo!

7.4.03

new toys seem to be coming into our hands these days - first my brother's DVD writer, then my new PDA, and now, my sister got an ECS Desknote A907 notebook today - i'm actually composing my blog on it right now running a bootable CD of Slackware Linux. we'll be setting it up for M$ software as soon as my brother finishes flashing the Clié.

speaking of which, we're still working on it owing to a boo-boo i did last night - my brother wanted to teach me to do the flashing myself, but i goofed it up, so i just had him do it again, to be on the safe side. things are looking good, but it's still a long way to go to finish this flashing - we do plan to finish it by the end of the day though, so in due time we'll get it up and running. i hope. of course my brother wants to take the unit as his own after all this is done, which, of course, i won't agree to. finders keepers.

my dad also got an old Phillips Savvy mobile phone fixed, and i'm now using that to keep my Smart SIM active. the only complaint i have with it is that its keypad can be a little stiff, and the UI really needs some getting used to.

6.4.03

adventures with the Clié - day 3

with some coaching from my brother, we now know where the OS (or Big ROM, in technical terms) is in the device - it's at 0x10010000, just in case you're like us who has a Clié NR70 for reflashing, as we really couldn't find this info anywhere.

i honestly thought that it was a done deal once we had that address. well, apparently not. according to information we got off this site, we'll have to perform the flashing on a per sector basis. and since we're talking about some 8MB of flash ROM currently occupied, we're in for a lot of work. still, i do presume that once this tedious task is finally done, we'll have this device up and running again.

word to the wise: never try to reflash your device using a ROM image intended for another device. i believe this device was flashed by its previous owner with an NR70V ROM image - he believed that there shouldn't be any problem flashing this into the device. i guess he was wrong, but who knows? until i can get this thing up and running, i can't really say if he made a mistake in the first place. for all we know, the darn thing's busted. for good. in which case i have a wonderful paperweight for my use. i'm very hopeful that it isn't the case...

right now we've dumped the ROM currently residing in the device, and we're trying to figure out how much needs to be changed in memory - i have a feeling it wouldn't, but i'm sort of doubtful. let's hope for the best...

5.4.03

i am now the proud owner of a slightly irregular Sony Clié PEG-NR70.

what i mean by "slightly irregular" is that it needs a little work to get it up and running.

it's not simple, though how i wish it were - it involves reflashing the OS of the device, and for the past two days, we've pretty much narrowed it down to the point where we need to find where the OS actually resides in flash memory, so that we can direct the ROM image we have into that place. any help from anyone would be highly appreciated. (FYI: we're connected to the Clié via serial, and using gdb over Linux to fix the device.)

i'll stop my post on that note for now - gotta get some rest, unless i want to miss work tomorrow.

2.4.03

i completed encoding two-thirds of the choral arrangement we have of Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" into MIDI last Monday, and it sounds really cool - really hoping to get the solo part for this, though i'm a bit doubtful, since this song hits a note i can't reach with my natural singing voice, and it's always a better option to have someone comfy with the range to sing the particular parts.

my friend let me accompany her home last night, and i stayed there for a bit, mingling with her homemates. it's a nice feeling, getting to know more of her world, and i hope this trend keeps on keeping on (a phrase she coined some time back). of course, some officemates of ours saw me on my way home in the vicinity, and since they sort of know who she is and where she lives, i guess they have an assumption on why i was there that they can't go wrong on. but i'm not worried.

oh, and i've been itching to get this posted - this morning i saw a replay of GMA 7's Saksi and saw a news segment of the many guys and girls (okay, emphasis on guys here) saw the premiere of Maui Taylor and Katya Santos' "Sex Drive" at the UP Film Center. there was this part when the two were asked to comment on the movie as being pornographic, and while Maui's comment (something along the lines of "it's not that pornographic compared to other movies") was quite acceptable to me, Katya's comment surely made my head (and ears and all) turn - while i can't quote her exact lines, she did say something that pretty much went like, "at least sa movie lang, hindi sa flesh".

what the heck?

IMHO, pornography is pornography, regardless of its form. no one should justify the tolerance of pornography by its mode of delivery. but with the proliferation of such movies (being labeled as art by their producers), i'm beginning to wonder whether the whole notion of sexuality here in the country has finally broken free of its supposedly conservative chains. we are a country that, on the one hand, speaks of chastity, conservativeness, and other such "unliberated" circles of thought; and on the other, has a throbbing mass (pun intended) of single teenagers and young adults acting like liberated Westerners, who, generally speaking, treat their sexuality as just another form of feeling that they can enjoy and exploit.

an officemate of ours here succinctly said, "who knows who will define morality and ethics, five to ten years down the road?"

it looks like i'll have to share his view on this matter.

30.3.03

my longest mobile fone call ever: 38min 42secs! this came from my friend who i met way back in my college sophomore years. i'm really saddened to find out that 1.) she's currently residing in Hong Kong, where SARS has become a huge health risk; and 2.) she has a tumor in her brain, or at least that's what i understood of her condition. please join me in praying for her...

i have one more link on SARS, or atypical pneumonia - check this out.

*whew* the weather's getting so warm here these days, with summer coming 'round and all...
for the past two days, the room where our workstation and server resides were powerless (as in without electricity), owing to a grounded outlet (this is assumed at most right now - we only isolated this today). so i've been a little late on my posts.

a very happy graduation to my friend Sacha Chua - if you do get to read this before my email, i just want to say that, even if we don't know each other much, you have been one heck of a student (and teaching assistant) thus far. looking forward to many more emails and (hopefully, in the near future) talkies with yah. n_n

i saw a link that might be of interest to graphic artists - this site has a streaming video link to teach people how to convert a raster image to a vector one (for use with Flash, for example). my sister was actually asking me this very question last night over dinner. for the bandwidth-deprived, i'll put up a textual explanation the whole video as soon as i get around to watching it.

dang, our internet connection seems to be going on and off every now and then. speaking of which, i have a huge rant about their service that i'd like to talk about, but i'll reserve that on another post... that issue deserves more "limelight" than the others...

anyway, in the meantime, i'm off for a haircut...

28.3.03

Christmas comes early! (sort of)

my cousin has come back from a Japan trip a little unexpectedly - primarily because of the war in Iraq (which i will not comment on). the company that he's working for is ferreting people back home as soon as possible, and it's a good thing - i had a couple of camera filters bought, and boy, am i ever so pleased with them. i just realised now, however, that my current setup (using 58mm filters) is preventing me from using my flash effectively. hopefully i wouldn't need to use my flash as much with these filters - some close-up filters, a circular polariser and a cross screen filter...

my brother, on the other hand, got a copy of Final Fantasy X-2, and Guilty Gear XX from Japan. had this all been what he had bought, it would have made for a plain evening. but my brother also ordered a Panasonic LF-D521, and while we haven't started using it, i can really see it being put to use later on...

i wonder if i tend to be a little too altruistic at times... on my ride home today, i offered to carry the items of a mother. she had her own kids, but no, i had to step in and offer a hand. it's no problem to me though. but on that same ride, about 15 minutes after she and her children alighted from the ride, i noticed that they left a pair of prescription eyeglasses on the seat. now i'm tempted to try to look for the family tomorrow, to return the spectacles if possible. i wonder if that's a good idea altogether... anyway, i like it that way, so i have no real problems with it.

speaking of my ride, he got flagged down by the local police for taking passengers for pay without a franchise (otherwise commonly known as "colorum"). we must have spent quite a bit (at least 15 minutes) waiting... he mentioned to me that for that particular offense, he'll be fined P5k. (he's been caught before.)

i'm still continually losing sleep, though i hope to correct that starting tonight - i take a nappy right after posting this blog. g'nite world.

27.3.03

Go to Jail. Do Not Pass "GO". Do Not Collect $200

i talked with a friend over the phone for the past hour or so, and basically all i got was a talk on "change your attitude since it isn't very attractive to people".

i see her point, and the logic as well as the motive behind the action. what i don't see is the methodology by which to approach it.

for starters, i am a rather technical and bulleted sort of person. give me a list of step-by-step instructions, and i'll probably get to the right answer. give me a bunch of actions and i'll more likely than not ask around for ways to piece them together cohesively.

not that i hate my friend - in fact, i appreciate her move. it just hurts to be told that you've been a bit of an ass for some people.

but at least a friend told me that.

in the same thought, an old choir mate of ours was robbed by two males on her commute ride home. when will there be proper police surveillance of high-risk areas for such incidents?

by the way sacha, however did you find out that i had linked you to my blog already? and a correction to your own post - i'm an MIS graduate, not CS... =)

okay, fatigue has completely set in now - my head wishes to lay itself parallel to the ground now... better get a nice cushion for that task.

25.3.03

task list
- i really need to start sleeping earlier

case in point: i wake up every weekday morning @ 5a, and i get back home @ 9p. with an average sleep time of 5-6 hrs, my body is beginning to find the stress too much to take.

if my weekends were more free, i'd be able to sleep that stress off - but no, i still have to wake up early during Sundays - Church duty.

not that i don't like the stress - all i have to do is manage it more efficiently.

24.3.03

task list:
- rip and burn audio CDs for office mates
- bring CDs of Diablo II + Lord of Destruction
- plan content for www.crosswinds.net/~glasstower

this morning an office mate of mine opened up with me her two main problems at work - both involve a possible chargeback, one involving a huge amount of money on her for "negligence". it was more out of a presumption from a past experience rather than negligence that she found herself in that predicament, and she told me that it seems that she will get off the hook for this one. it had better been the case, otherwise i would have reacted very negatively to it.

i feel like i'm getting shot from all around - a change i've made for a critical application has just gone terribly wrong. i simply reused a function module i had used before, but apparently it refused to behave the way i had expected it to. this would be perfectly acceptable for a first time, but with the recent string of programming issues i've been having, i'm beginning to think that confidence on my activities is rapidly eroding away. all this for someone who still has 2+ years of a contract to work off. this is going to be so much fun...

i also got to talk with my ex-girlfriend last night, and so far, things are okay - hopefully we'll get to talk much more in the days to come.

i finally had a good opportunity to talk with a good friend of mine at work - it really feels wonderful connecting and relating with her again. today she made me realize that yesterday's homily - that the intention of what is done is more important than what is actually done - pretty much applies to everything in life, regardless of how people respond to it.

i will always remember that thought.

23.3.03

ahh... my first post on my first blog.

(only after spending practically half of today thinking did i finally manage to come up with a valid and likeable name for this blog. talk about finicky.)

unless i find a better way to do my posts, i'll be forced to compose them during the day on my PDA, then posting them all in at night, copy-pasting my text from my PDA into my blog. it'll be nuts, but at least i'll be able to make posts...

many thanks to sacha for pointing out this site to me - hopefully you'll have as much fun reading my blog as much as i have reading your wiki.