Year (2008) End Post

I spent the last few weeks of the year cleaning common areas of the house, removing cat/rat/roach droppings from the dirtiest corners of the house, dismantling 40-50 year old furnitures, disposing 30-40 year old garbage, and patching the holes in the ceilings in preparation for this day.

I already used up 10+ rolls of 33 meter duct tapes since November, in my effort to cover every crack and hole in our ceiling, and minimize the dust fall when firecrackers begins exploding today.

Because of that, I didn't have much time to prepare/think for this post. Indeed, time goes by pretty fast. :P

2008, for me, was really about "regaining my time". For the past few years, a great deal of my time was taken up by work, business trips, and overtime. This year was different.

I was able to spend more time at home with my family, with my sisters in particular. I had the chance to work, shop, and play with them as well. Some credit goes to my Nintendo Wii and DS Lite. :)

I was able to make some major and minor home repairs and improvements. Like replacing floor tiles, replacing old fluorescent lamps with compact fluorescents, covering tables with vinyl stickers, any many more. :)

My gaming skills were also restored and improved because of the Wii, thanks to my flexible work schedule, I inserted short Wii sessions in between work. >:)

The work from home setup also allowed me to attend tours, events and gatherings with friends without having to worry too much about schedule and location.

And the most important is the time I spent with Jasmine. :)

==========

2008 has been a really good year for me. I got to see a lot of people, acquired some cool toys and gadgets, learned some new stuffs, got my impacted wisdom tooth removed, visited some very nice places, attended weddings and parties, spent a lot but saved a lot as well.

2009 is probably going to be a tough year for me, as the effects of the Global Financial Crisis finally sets in. I'm keeping a positive outlook as we enter another uncertain year, but I must and I will prepare for the worst. :)

Happy New Year! :)

P.S. This post is not possible without Globe GPRS Services. Because some smart guy aimed a firecracker at the power line which effectively killed electricity in the whole block. (at around 12:01AM)

I sincerely hope/wish/pray/curse that the guy blows all his fingers off before this day ends.

4 Months Ago

Here's (finally) the second part of my Wedding and Reunion series.

To continue where I left off last time, we spent about an hour in Starbucks, talking mostly about work, future plans, and a bunch of Anime stuffs. Yes, we're the "geeks" of our batch. :P

The reception was held in Gloria Maris, Greenhills. We left Starbucks, Binondo just about 20 minutes before the "scheduled" time of reception, but managed to get there before the program started. We're late, but they're delayed. >:)

Ellyson did not join us because he had to stay home to look after his dad who just had surgery. We shared a table with our high school batchmates, the "populars", just like last year, during Kate's wedding.

There were 2 more tables for our batch, one was occupied by the "regulars", and the other was occupied by the "bullies". I'm using these general "labels" for discussion purposes only. My assesments are largely based from my experiences during our high school years. For some, there are only 2 classifications, "ang nangongopya" (copier), and "ang kinokopyahan" (copyee).

The event was generally fun, it was really nice to see and hear from them again after a fairly long period of time. Too bad these kinds of events are not well suitable for "catch up sessions" with old friends. Good thing that I'm not attached to most of my high school friends so there's not much to catch up. High school must have been boring for me. >:)

What's significant about this event is that, it was the first time I had wine (from grapes, not rice). At first, I refused to take it when my classmates coerced me to. They tried several times and failed repeatedly. The one who actually made me decide to take it was Noric, Nerissa's brother. He was our math/computer teacher. He was one of the reasons why I pursued Computer Science. He's also the one who offered me a position in Rebisco last year. :)

I'm not really the alcoholic type, but I guess I really had to make some exceptions. :P

Before the eating event ended, I got a chance to talk some classmates, who seemed to be quite interested or intrigued with my personal life, something new for someone like me. One offered to give me a ride back home but I told them I'm with Glenn and Magan.

After having our picture taken with Nerissa and Simson, we exchanged goodbyes and went home. I had to thank Glenn for generously giving us ride back home. :)

Until the next wedding event... :D

P.S. I guess Kim is next... He he...

The Frying Pan Incident

I accompanied Jasmine last week to pick a non-stick frying pan for their Secret Santa. It took us (actually her) a while to decided which frying pan to take.

She had a pretty hard time choosing and deciding which frying pan to take because some of them have dents and some have collected dust.

The incident led me to tell her (jokingly), "I imagine myself waking up one day, starving because she refuses to make breakfast after discovering the dent on the frying pan." He he he... :D

Reboot

I've been putting off my blog posts for the past couple of months now. I wanted to catch up before the year finally ends. This post serves as a 'reboot' for my dying blog. Dedicated to none other than Jasmine, of course. :)

Special thanks to Despair, Inc. for their simple yet powerful DIY tool. I also re-created my "Disappointment" lithograph using their tool.

I'm quite pleased with the results. :)

I'm a Ghost

You Are a Ghost

Mysterious, independent, and often unseen - you always do things your own way. You are introverted, shy, and even a little secretive. People are dying to know you better, but you're a difficult person to know. A lot of your contributions to the world are left invisible and unfelt. Your greatest power: Blending in really well Your greatest weakness: Being too passive You play well with: Witches

What Kind of Monster Are You?

46444 Days

I would never have imagine that file transfer nowadays could take this loooooooooong...

46444 days is around 127 years from now, I would be dead by the time it finishes copying. Amazingly enough, it completed the copy in under 5 minutes. Ha ha ha.

When Grownups Stop Growing

The Piattos Incident

It's been 2 weeks since the "Piattos Incident" and my dad still has never spoken even a single word to my mom or my aunt.

I don't really know what exactly happened, but I'm pretty sure that "Piattos" was involved. Yes, it's that junk food. As stupid as it may sound, they love to fight over petty things here.

According to my cousin, who was with them most of the time, my dad was shouting at my mom, over "Piattos" perhaps, then my aunt berated him about his rude behavior. Then some heated argument probably broke, to which my dad, most likely have ended it with something like "wala kang pakialam!" or "huwag mo akong pakialaman!".

My dad has always been this way, he has this tendency to resort to brute intimidation (by shouting and cursing) when dealing with issues and situations, however small they would be. Actually, my aunt is just the same, but on a different (lower) level.

My mom, on the other hand, was influenced by these two, by being with them most of the time. She too sometimes exhibits the same behavior when dealing with situations.

The Unusual Birthday

After that incident, my dad, aside from not talking to my mom and my aunt, also stopped helping out in the store. Spends most of his time doing pretty much nothing. There's a noticeable "silence" and "peacefulness" in the house. We no longer hear his daily complains about the food (as mentioned in one of my previous posts).

The following Monday (September 15) was my dad's birthday, but because of the incident, my mom didn't even bother to prepare or cook any special meal. It was like a regular day. The Saturday before, my sister (with her BF Gene) brought some food to celebrate, but he wasn't around and never even touched the food when he arrived. My eldest sister (with husband Perrin) also came on Sunday, but I don't recall him joining us for dinner.

Come to think of it, we never really celebrated birthdays in any other "better" ways.

Negative Thoughts Attract Negative Situations

Just a few days after the incident, we learned that my dad's car broke, soon after he plugged his portable TV with a wrong polarity. By the way, the portable TV is now a paper weight. The 32-year old car being broken is old news, only this time, he had to replace the whole engine, and it took him a week to find a compatible engine and fix it.

He could repair almost anything, as long as they don't have ears. Using his car as an example, my dad, obviously has problems with letting go of a lot of things, including junks and most importantly his pride.

Meanwhile, one of our helpers, have finally, decided to quit. Although her reasons for leaving are quite unreasonable, I think what actually made her leave is the constant scolding she gets from my mom (mostly), my dad and my aunt.

She used to help my mom in the kitchen, my mom teaches her and instructs her to cooking tasks, but she always tends to forget things, or do things differently, which makes my mom angry from time to time and thus getting scolded by her.

But from a personal stand point, the scolding after the "Piattos Incident" was on different level. I guess that was the last straw for her. She disappeared for half a day, returned, then after 2 days, left again and decided not to comeback, as I predicted.

The Unexpected Response

Last week, my dad "miraculously" started cleaning and organizing stuffs. He has also disposed a bunch of trash which has been there for more than 20 years, something I never thought was possible to happen. This photo was taken in March of last year (2007). Note that the table is barely recognizable.

He started buying some plastic containers and sorted some of his things, which are mostly composed of electronic parts, screws, wires, and tools. He doesn't like storing things inside containers because according to him, it's very difficult to search for something hidden, so he prefers everything lying around in plain sight. Yeah right!

We'll just wait and see what will happen in a few days or weeks. This wasn't the first time he cleaned his area, the last time was probably 5 years ago, and 2 days after that, it started returning to its "normal" and "cluttered" state.

"Ang gulo-gulo nga eh", this is arguably the best phrase I've heard from him in the last 25 years of my life, referring to his desk area. Finally, acceptance.

Getting Nowhere

Being a person of great "pride", in other words, "stubborn", he tried to help out in some of the household chores last week. His attempt on the rice failed, it wasn't thoroughly cooked. He ended blaming my mom (not directly) for messing with it. I guess some bevahiors are really difficult to let go.

His attempt to make some ice tubes also seemed to have failed, when my mom got angry after seeing the imperfect water bags. My mom stopped bickering after realizing that is was my dad who made them.

The Mouse Trap Incident

The last event happened yesterday, when my mouse trap successfully caught a mouse. The mouse has been wandering around the house for a long time and the traps set by my dad failed to catch it. 2 days ago, I placed the mouse traps and my dad commented that it won't be able to catch mouse (everything not his just got to be wrong).

He woke me up telling me about it (while carrying the mouse trap), I told him I already knew about it and that my cousin wanted to use it in his laboratory test. He folded it and placed the trap vertically. A few moments later, the mouse started struggling, gravity might have played a role as well. And it could almost get away.

As an immediate response, I said that he shouldn't have touched it in the first place. The same way he always tells us whenever we try to sort or rearrange his things. Then he got mad after that, telling his rants to my cousin, something like "ako na nga nagmamalasakit tapos napagsasabihan pa, kaya ako na-bwiset", with stress on "bwiset".

I didn't realize that it has anything to do with the mouse trap incident. For me, it wasn't really a big deal. I have no idea where the sudden "sensitivity" came from. I said nothing after that. Within my thoughts I was hoping that he realizes what he have just said. Ha ha ha. :)

Close Encounters with the Reptiles

I recently purchased some items from an online store (I just took advantage of their free express shipping promo). O:)

The package did arrive in less than a week (the non-express shipping took almost 2 months), but unfortunately, what I received was a notice that package is subject for customs examination.

This is quite different from the previous notice cards. Before, the packages were actually delivered to the postal office nearest to the shipping address. This time, I had to go to the postal office along Domestic Road (Pasay) to claim the parcel.

When I arrived at the postal office, there were a bunch of people outside the warehouse, waiting for their parcels to be release. I gave the notice card to the EMS personnel and I was told to wait outside until my name is called.

After an hour or so, they called me and as part of the operating procedures, they would open the parcel and inspect its contents. Attached in the box is a document declaring the actual amount of the item. Normally, the online store would lower the declared value to avoid detection. In my case, they put $20 in the declared value (from actual value of $40).

However, the little curly crocodile, Celia Bantig, told me that she would not accept it. Of course, because she is GREEDY. After that she went to their office, then she returned with a piece of scratch paper with lots of computations. o_O

She wanted to price my item for an outrageous price of $150, which meant that I had to pay more than Php 3000 for the release of my item. Talk about hostage situations. o_O

I did not agree to that so she asked me how much did I pay for it, I replied $40, but she wasn't convinced (or she just wanted to extort me). I asked her if they have a computer with an Internet connection so I could show her the price. She rep(lied) to me that they don't have Internet connection, and they don't even have computers in their office.

She's probably expecting me to give in, but I told her that I'll just return the next day and bring with me a copy of the receipt.

==========

The following day, I returned with a printed receipt. I was told to go inside their crocodile den (office), and search for Pemma, the mother crocodile. I told her my situation and showed her the receipt.

She offered to make a new computation. She wrote some numbers, punched some keys on her calculator and ended up with $50. I was relieved to learn that I only had to pay a little over Php 1000.

But before I could celebrate, the mother crocodile, suddenly changed her mind, acted as if she had forgotten something, then punched some keys on her calculator again, and this time, came up with $90 (WTF?!?). She probably realized that $50 just wasn't worth their time and effort.

Anyway, I decided not to argue with her, because I knew nothing about customs laws and procedures. Although she did mentioned that they had to include "insurance" and "postage". Then again, I don't really believe that it would double the price?!?!

So, she wrote in her report that the price of the item is $90.51. With the following computation:

$90.51 * 47.077 (Exchange Rate) =
Php 4260.94 (Price in Peso)

Php 4260.94 * 15% (Rate of Duty) =
Php 639.14 (Import Duty)

For the VAT, her computation was:
Php 4260.94 (Adjusted Price) +
Php 639.14 (Import Duty) +
Php 265 (CDS) +
Php 250 (IPF) =
Php 5145.08 (Big F*cking Amount) * 12% (VAT) =
Php 649.81 (VAT)

For the final amount:

Php 639.14 (Import Duty) +
Php 649.81 (VAT) +
Php 264 (CDS) +
Php 250 (IPF) =
Php 1804 (Ransom Money, almost same amount as the item!!!)

The Import Duty, I supposed, would go to the pocket of some greedy bastard in Department of Finance, while the VAT money, would be added to one of the many bank accounts of the Evil First Gentleman Mike Arroyo (Husband of the Evil Bitch). He he. :))

The CDS, which probably stands for Customs Documentary Stamp, which according to the fine print in the receipt should only amount to TWO PESOS (Php 2.00), and the IPF (only God knows what it stands for), will probably be distributed among the crocodiles and lizards crawling within the post office compound. Ha ha. :))

Oh, I almost forgot, the little curly crocodile lied to me about the computers. There were 3 computers in their den, and there's another one outside. And she seemed to be avoiding me, but I still managed to get her name from her ID.

==========

Unfortunately for normal citizens like me, it's impossible for us not to be taken advantage of by greedy people like them. :(

At least now, you know where you're money is going... :P

The Office: Japanese Version

Wedding and Reunion - Part 1

On September 7, I attended a wedding of two high school classmates, Nerissa and Simson.

The only time I get to see my high school classmates is during occasions like this. Last time I saw most them was way back June of last year (2007), during Kate's wedding. :P

The wedding ceremony was held at San Sebastian Church, Quiapo Manila. I was supposed to meet Magan and Ellyson in Tutuban but I had to leave them behind because I didn't want to keep my uncle waiting too long. I tried contacting them but I never got through, because of the 6-hour service downtime of Globe. :(

We arrived at the church at around 3:45. My uncle offered to wait for me and take me to the reception at Greenhills but I declined. I told them most of my friends have cars so I'll just tag along with somebody. >:)

I joined the guys (Sze Tin, Lawrence, Jeremy, Jason, Aldrich, Edwin) who were waiting in the parking area. We chatted for a while, mostly about our current jobs and salaries. Although for my case, Sze Tin have already announced my salary to almost everyone, which is quite annoying. o_O

A few moments later, another group of guys came. It was Jason's Gang, the other Jason, we have two Jason's in our batch. His gang includes Ryan, Genedale, Michael Manlavi, and another guy from the lower batch. If the first group was the job/salary-oriented guys, these guys are the vice-oriented people, credited to their habits of drinking and smoking. :P

Magan and Ellyson eventually arrived. Glenn also got there before the ceremony started. We chatted for a while before we went inside the church. Most of us stayed in the last row. The girls of the batch were seated a few rows in front of us. Kim (w/ BF), Kate (w/ Husband), Abi (Single), and Jacq (Unknown) was there. Aisha (w/ BF) also followed.

Gilbert and Jerry were also there although I couldn't remember when they arrived.

After the mass ended, we spent a few more minutes chatting and taking group pictures inside the church. Then waited outside for the newly wedded couple to come out.

Instead of going to Gloria Maris right away, we (Magan, Ellyson, and Glenn) decided to hang out in Starbucks Binondo first.

To be continued...

Big Ass Table

Sticking Out Your Leg

The Batman

A mysterious man hopped inside the jeepney which I was riding this morning. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of worn out denim shorts. His zipper was open, by the way. :))

What's interesting with this old man, who's probably in his late 50's, is that he started introducing himself and his job (to everyone) the moment he got settled in the jeep.

The man identified himself as Juanito "Batman" Yap (Yeah, Batman is for real). According to him, he's a "mestisong intsik" (I hate that word), who lives in Tondo (behind Puregold) and performs healing for a living. He claims the he can cure all kinds of illness, as long as your are not allergic to his medicine (LOL).

His "magical" medicine, which we shall call the "Bat-Ointment", is a yellowish cream like substance in a small glass container. The "Bat-Ointment" seemed like a familiar Chinese ointment that is used to heal burn injuries. He claims that the "Bat-Ointment" is very effective.

He's also selling some homemade solutions made from a mixture of water, "tawas" (alum), and a special medicine. The said solution can help people with body odor problems. He also carries a folder board with prices on it, similar to the ones we often see with printer ink buyers. Amazingly, he tested the solution on animals like cats, dogs, and chicken. :D

People call him "Batman" because he loves helping others, that's what he claimed. Before we reached Rizal Avenue, he told us that he can also cure diabetes (w/ money back guarantee), and that there is no need for amputation. :)

I wanted to continue listening to his stories but the jeep has already reached Rizal Avenue. I jumped out of the jeep with some hanging questions on my mind:

Why is "Batman's" zipper open? Did Robin forget to close it?

Ramen and Chocolates

Rajah and I went to PC Reform (Makati) yesterday to purchase some desktop modding accessories. While on our way back to Buendia, we discovered a Japanese convenient store located at the corner of Sacred Heart street and Metropolitan Avenue.

The store is operated by New Hatchin Trading Corporation. They sell various imported Japanese grocery items; chocolates, candies, cookies, Pocky's, instant ramen, curry mixes, canned and bottle beverages (those found in vending machines), sake (Japanese rice wine), chopsticks, ice creams, various Japanese frozen cooking ingredients, and many, many, many more. Oh, they also sell cakes, only 3 variants though.

I went around the stalls a couple of times because I couldn't decide what to buy. I settled, eventually, with a small bottle of yasai (veggie) juice (P93), an instant pork curry ramen (P88), and a small box of Galbo chocolates (P78). :))

I guess the only thing lacking in this store is a gashapon machine.

Identity Mix Up

Precious from World Vision contacted me a few days ago telling me that Danny Dy, which they thought was my father, told them to contact me about his sponsor child.

I was surprised to hear that. Knowing that helping a charity organization would be the last thing my dad would ever do. I talked to her some more, and she asked a few questions on her end too. Later, we realized that we're talking about two different persons.

The other Danny Dy, works in Petron Megaplaza, and has been a sponsor since 2001. They probably assumed that we're related when they called here before and my dad gave his name. My dad's real name is Danilo Chua, but for some unknown reason, he uses Danny Dy most of the time.

So, when they updated their records (presumably), they called Danny Dy (my dad) again asking about his supposed sponsorship. In which my dad, responded immediately by telling them to ask me instead, without really clarifying it. Which finally ended up as the reason for this blog entry.

Precious apologized for the confusion and also thanked me for my continued support to their organization. :)

99%

Almost there... :)

Missed the 2nd to the last note of the last section... :(

He he he... :)

Google Chrome

Google joins the browser wars... :D

http://www.google.com/chrome

mov (%rdp),%rcx

... that would pretty much sum up my long weekend... o_O

I ran into a serious assembly code bug when I tried building and running a month's coding changes under 64-bit openSUSE Linux.

Good thing that Rajah provided me with some very useful GDB debugging techniques before he went to Bohol for a vacation. :P

I spent most of the weekend, debugging, thinking, learning assembly, shopping for PC components, playing Guitar Hero, and more debugging... :D

And for some side stories...

My Inno3D video card fan stopped again, for the nth time this month. I took it out and went to PCX to have it checked or possibly replaced, but the tech support guy told me that they don't do replacement if the item was purchased more than a month ago.

Although the warranty still applies, the shop won't replace it right away, they had to ship it back to the supplier for testing, which would probably take 4 weeks, at the very least. o_O

He suggested that I check the IT shops in Gilmore to find a replacement fan, which I'll probably in the coming days. :D

Since I was expecting something like that to happen, I just bought some upgrade components for my desktop. Additional 2GB DDR2-800 memory modules. :P

==========

When I got home from PCX, I took a quick shower and prepared for a message massage session. The old masseuse was referred by my sister's boyfriend. Gene's family is a regular customer of the old lady. She was also here last week but I declined because I had to do some work.

After almost an hour of joint twisting, muscle bending, bone cracking, I was feeling relaxed and energized again... :P

The masseuse discovered my injured ankle which I myself never noticed. Although it's been aching from time to time, I just kept on ignoring it.

==========

Back to my work area, I installed the 2GB memory modules and booted my machine just to be greeted by a black screen and 100% CPU usage. I tried reinstalling the Linux NVIDIA drivers several times using different methods but all of them failed. :(

I resorted to re-installing Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04) then installed the NVIDIA driver. But it failed again. :(

I spent another 2 hours searching for possible solutions in the forums. Tried several BIOS configurations like suggested in the threads, but they all failed. :(

With no concrete leads, I decided to revert back to my original configuration, then put the memory modules one at a time. The 2GB and 3GB configurations worked fine, so it's 4GB configuration that really screws my setup. >:(

I continued to search through the forums, this time with a specific issue. One thread mentioned something about upgrading the BIOS. Although it's for a different motherboard, I figured it might just solve my problem. O:)

After bumping my board's (GA-MA69GM-S2H) BIOS firmware to F5, the NVIDIA driver for Linux miraculously worked. Ha ha ha!

7 Missed Notes

My current addiction and lifetime frustration...


My best record so far. Too bad, I never had the talent to this on a real musical instrument. :D

But who cares... I would gladly settle with my Guitar Hero... >:P

Restoring My Left-Click

With help from some old friends, I was able to restore the left-click button of my mouse. Good thing that I kept some of my defective mice, which all suffered the same left-click problem.


When the symptoms started to manifest, I tried poking around the left-click mechanism, which ended getting destroyed by me. :P

I tried putting it back but I had no idea what it looked like before I punched a screwdriver into it. :D


Then I thought that I may be able to take a similar part from another mouse and replace the broken one. Luckily, both mice (A4Tech and Logitech) used similar parts for the click button.


So, I desoldered the right-click button (probably in better condition than the left-click) from the old A4Tech mouse and soldered it to my Logitech mouse.

Now, my mouse is back to its left-click-able state. :D

Crazy Day: Part 2

August 8, 2008

The second part of my story happened at the wedding reception. As I've mentioned in my previous entry, it just kept getting weirder and funnier.

When Carlo started calling names of the guys to join the garter game trap, I had a feeling that something is going to happen (to me), and it did. :D

As you might have guessed, I was the one who got the garter. The game started with all the guys given a balloon to inflate. My battle plan was to make sure that my balloon is not the largest nor the smallest. I even tried to distract Bert so he won't be able to inflate his. >:)

However, it was never about the size. It was the color of the balloon. It was all about the PINK balloon, which I was holding from the very beginning. o_O

What happened next is more bizarre. Each girl was given the end of one of the laces wrapped around the bouquet. The idea was, whoever picks the one strand which was actually tied to the bouquet gets it.

And guess who won? It was Jasmine! :D

Mathematically speaking, the chances (6 guys and 6 girls) that we will get picked as a pair would be around 2.7%. But then again, the fun factor won't be that much if someone else got picked, right? :P

Overall, it was a memorable and fun event, not only for the newly weds, but for everyone as well.

Again, cheers to our new couple, Carlo and Sheila. :)

Floody Friday

The sudden and heavy down pour of rain late this afternoon caused a lot of trouble for commuters like me. I tried to avoid as much delay as possible by avoiding the seemingly never ending line of commuters in our *&^%$#@! MRT.

My first choice was to take the Baclaran-bound bus to get to LRT in Edsa-Taft station. When I reached the loading bay, there were a bunch of people standing and waiting in the "supposedly" restricted area. It was a bad sign.

I ended up walking towards Ayala Avenue (across Rustan's) to take a Buendia-bound bus. Normally, the buses would pick up passengers in the unloading area, but since it was still early and there were traffic enforcers in the unloading area, bus drivers didn't dare to stop.

I have no idea when those guys would leave so instead of waiting for them to leave, I went on to walk towards the official loading area, which happen to be 4 freaking blocks away!!! I don't get the whole point to separating the loading from the unloading area. It's been there for quite a long time and yet it has never resolved the congestion problem in Ayala Avenue.

After a few minutes, I reached the loading area and got inside an almost empty bus. Then, I spent the next hour or so seated inside the frustratingly slow moving vehicle before finally transferring to the shuttle service to Moriones.

The shuttle avoided the Buendia - Roxas Boulevard route and took the Taft - Intramuros route. We reached Juan Luna street in under an hour, however, I was faced with a terrible obstacle.

The streets were flooded, ankle-deep, I had no way of getting out of the van without getting my shoes, pants, and feet soaked in dark water. The inevitable happened.

It was frustrating, I decided not to take the jeep anymore and just walk home. I walked at least 7-9 blocks before finally reaching home. I tried to avoid the flooded areas as much as I could but in most areas, I had no choice but to dip while trying to avoid open manholes. At one point I was literally in the middle of the road, tailing some jeep or with another car tailing me.

====================

The best part of the day, however, was not the rain nor the flood. It was the time when I punched a stupid kid in the street after he made fun of me. Most of the time, people make fun of Chinese people like me by uttering some random phrases which basically makes fun of the Chinese language.

Normally, I would just ignore them, even though I really find it offensive and disrespectful, regardless if it was being done for fun.

This time it was different, the timing and the place was perfect, he never saw it coming, the stupid kid thought I'm gonna let him get away. He got what he deserved. Ha ha ha. After that I walked way and he continued his bullsh*t, I wanted to turn back and punch him harder, but my "kindness" prevailed.

He was lucky because it was a very weak punch. I only intended to scare him off. If I was serious enough, he probably might have bled or something. He he he.

Happy long weekend everyone! :)

Crazy Day: Part 1

August 8, 2008

Sometimes bizarre things happen when you least expect it. And if you're "lucky" enough, they would occur one after another. It seemed that someone up there wanted to make fun of me.

Before I continue, I would like to congratulate the new couple, Carlo and Sheila, and wish them a wonderful married life. :)

It started like a regular Friday, I woke up at around 6:30AM, still tempted to go back to sleep, but I had a wedding to attend to.

Good thing than San Agustin Church was relatively near from my place so I didn't have to get up very early. Since I wasn't sure if I could still remember the place, I alloted an hour to get there.

I reached the San Agustin a little past 8, and met up with Jasmine and some old NSP friends. We waited for a few minutes until Carlo and Sheila arrived.

Everything seemed to be OK until Jasmine asked me (after Carlo asked her) if I could do the 1st reading for the mass, to which I "willingly" agreed.

When I received the copy of the missalette, I was shocked to discover that it was in Filipino. Not that I don't speak the language fluently, it's just that I'm not used with the selection of words.

Some of them are really difficult to pronounce even for a native speaker. I was worried that I might laugh or utter something stupid in the middle. Anyhow, I went on to silently rehearse the lines, and identified the proper location of pauses and places of emphasis. :-S

After a few more minutes, the church/wedding assistants told me to take a seat in front so I did. I waited anxiously as the bridal entourage marched down the aisle. Clueless of the things to come.

The moment the priest started the mass, one of the church assistant approached me and asked me who will be doing the Salmong Tugunan (Responsorial Psalm, not a kind of fish). I told her I don't know. :-?

She consulted with the Namumuno (Leader, not a logger), then went back to tell me that I should also do that part. I was shocked, for the second time. o_O

Although shaky at first, I did manage to complete the 1st Reading and Responsorial Psalm without laughing or doing anything stupid. Whew!

I'm beginning to feel a little relaxed until the church assistant approached me again and asked me to do the Intercession (Is this correct?) part as well. It just keeps getting better and better. o_O

And that was the last of my attempts to embarrass myself, inside the church. Unfortunately, it did not end there...

To be continued...

P.S. I don't regret my participation in the wedding rites, it was actually fun. I even got a nice view of Carlo and Sheila, and the rest of the guests seated in front. I just find it a little weird and funny, that someone who never goes to church got involved in this kind of situation.

It Runs in Their Blood

My aunt (father side), who I mentioned in a previous post, visited my other aunt (her sister), who seems to be suffering from a certain illness.

Tagging my cousin along, they went all the way to their home in Parkway, Quezon City. Their place is quite far from ours.

As a way of showing concern, my aunt bought some pastries and gave them to her sister, which the latter refused to accept, and left the former no choice but to bring it back home. Sweet and Cold.

Sounds familiar? She just tasted some of her own medicine.

It seems that she's not the only one who hates the idea of being fed.

As for the older aunt, I have no idea what kind of sickness she has, however, I'm pretty sure that her miserable condition would not be too far from my dad's and my aunt's.

It runs in their blood after all...

Warning: Graphic Content

Just a few hours after I went to sleep, I was awaken by droplets of rain entering from the window near my bed. As I would normally do, I closed the windows.

But before I could get back to my sleep, I felt something weird inside my mouth. It was blood with some "chewable" mass, which I thought was clotted blood. And there was at least a tablespoon full of it. o_O

After cleaning my mouth, I went back to sleep. A few minutes later, I woke up again and realized that the bleeding never stopped, and I was back to seeing thick, sticky, radiant red liquid coming out of my mouth.

At the time, I realized that there was something wrong...

It has been 4 days since I had the surgery (impacted wisdom tooth removal) but I never encountered any severe bleeding after the surgery. I may have tore the wound while brushing or during my sleep.

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Anyhow, I tried my best to stay calm, because I know that panicking would just increase my heart rate and aggravate the bleeding. How would you stay calm after seeing lots of blood coming out of your mouth? (see picture at the bottom) >:P

I took a 500mg capsule of Hemostan to help stabilize the bleeding. But since it needed an hour or so to take effect, I had to find a way to control the bleeding, otherwise, I might pass out. I took a cotton ball and stuffed it on the operated gum area.

The bleeding continued as I replaced the cotton balls. Either I wasn't hitting the right area or I was bleeding in several areas. At that point I was starting to get worried, my dentist appointment is at 8:30AM and I still have more than 3 hours to wait and probably bleed more. :S

My mom panicked after I told her that the bleeding won't stop. She gave me an ice pack and it somehow managed to minimized the bleeding. I also managed to get an hour of sleep with cotton inside my mouth. :P

I got up around 7AM just to find out that it began to bleed again. I removed that blood coated cotton ball from mouth and replaced it again. Then started to prepare for my visit to the dentist.

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I was accompanied by my sister and our dad was the one who took us to the dentist. The dentist was surprised to learn about the bleeding. I told her what happened that morning and she told me that putting the cotton balls was a bad idea. :))

She then started checking and cleaning the wounds. She revealed to me that one of the stitches was tore open. I had 2 stitches from the surgery. Somehow, one of them tore open the wound and started the bleeding.

After the effects of the anesthesia kicked in, she removed the new formed tissues that was torn. Then she put some powdered medicine on the wounds.

Unfortunately, there's one specific area that the bleeding won't stop. She had to use a stronger medicine and a new stitch to finally control that area. I actually felt the needle punching through my gum because the effects of the anesthesia was starting to wear off.

We left the clinic almost 11AM, she assured me that she won't let me go home until the bleeding stops, and she did. Whew!

I'm lucky enough that it happened this morning. My dentist was scheduled to go to Canada this evening for a 1-month vacation. God still loves me. :D Hopefully, I don't have to go through something like this again. O:) I'm estimating that I've lost at least a half glass of blood. o_O

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For those who are curious, here's a picture of my blood. It appears to be a lot, but it's just diluted with water in the chamber pot. The solid looking objects are the cotton balls that I've used.


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Before I went to sleep last night, I was watching these final segments of Bubble Gang. I'm not sure if my excessive laughing have contributed to the bleeding. Ha ha ha...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn3JayerHoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgewH18IDLE

The moral of the story... never watch comedy shows after surgery... he he he...

Yeah... People Hate Change

If you're a frequent MRT passenger, you probably have come across the following announcement or something similar, scattered across different locations in all MRT stations recently.


I deliberately cropped it for blogging purposes. If you're interested in the full version, you can download it from here.

Surprisingly enough, the supposed "measure to ease overcrowding" resulted in this...


It took me a while to get inside and tried my best to avoid or minimize body contact. I could still remember some people commenting that the new system sucks and that they (MRT) should never have implemented it. Some even started cursing the security personnel who was trying to organize the crowd.

You don't have to be an expert in crowd control in order to realize that their "plan" was not carefully "planned" at all.

And because I don't want to criticize without sharing some constructive suggestions, here are some of my ideas...

1. Remove security checks on all entrances. Obviously, the bottlenecks are the security personnels. The rate of their "bag poking" is far lower than the rate of passengers arriving. >:)
   
2. Put walk-in metal detectors on all entrances. They DON'T have to work. They just have to look convincingly real, and beep randomly. This way we could achieve the same "sense of security" like what we currently have, minus the cost and the effort. >:)
   

And for the fun part, here are some suggestions to instill some discipline among passengers...

1. Deploy stanchions (posts), but instead of using the usual metal chains or nylon ropes, "rusted barbed wires" SHOULD be used. This way, passengers would not attempt to overtake one another or create new lines. >:)
   
2. Attach "rusted blades" or "broken glass shards" at the sides of the train doors. This way, passengers would not attempt to stop the doors from closing. >:)
   
3. An alternative for option 2 is to use "electric doors", similar to electric fences. Same effect, minus the bloody mess. >:)
   
4. Finally, hire bouncers. The can be deployed inside the trains or in the platforms. To help weak passengers in getting in and off the train. >:)

Till next time... ride safely... :)

Really Sad News

Friday afternoon, I received an SMS message from Dominic, informing me that his dad had passed away (Morning of May 30). I was shocked to hear the bad news, and for a while, could not think of a proper way to respond.

Wilfredo Dandan, 50, fell asleep while on his way to San Juan Municipal Hall and never woke up. The taxi driver rushed him to a nearby hospital, where they attempted to revive him. However, it was already too late, and he was announced dead-on-arrival.

Dominic is a good friend from college. Our houses are just few blocks apart. He was my jeepney buddy for 4 years. By his request, I contacted CJ and Carlo, our college buddies, and arranged a meeting so I could bring them to the funeral house on Saturday or Sunday.

On my way home, I went his father's wake in Lorenzo Funeral Homes, just a block away from our house. I stayed there until 12AM, before heading home. I also had a chance to talk to Dominic, Marilen and also Dominic's aunt. Dominic told me what happened earlier that day, while his aunt shared her experiences in her courageous battle and triumph over cancer.

The following morning (Saturday), I met Carlo and CJ at UST and accompanied them to Lorenzo. We had lunch there and stayed for until 1PM. We shared a couple stories on some recent updates on our lives. The last time we had a chance to this was way back in college.

It was nice to see them again after a long time, but as Dominic would put it, it could have been a lot nicer if the circumstances were not sorrowful.

My deepest condolences to the Dandan family for their lost.

To Mr. Wilfredo Dandan, may you rest in peace.

Superiority Complex

After 20 days of inactivity... :P

Refer to a subconscious neurotic mechanism of compensation developed by the individual as a result of feelings of inferiority. - Wikipedia

A few days back, my dad and my aunt had a heated discussion for a very unusual topic, 'which is the shortest way' to Ylaya Street from Jose Abad Santos street. And by “heated”, it means that they were shouting at each other, telling each other how ignorant the other one is.

But, who cares??? It doesn’t really matter which way you take, because you’ll just end up in the same place. Why bother?

Unfortunately, for those two, being correct is like their addiction. They love to argue with people just to prove that they are better, smarter, and superior to others.

My dad would almost always contradict any person’s opinion or idea regardless if it’s already correct. He would always have a “more” correct idea that would render your idea incorrect no matter how twisted his opinion was.

Another manifestation of his condition is his constant complain about food. You would always hear negative remarks from him for almost every meal of every day, except when he’s not around. Some typical comments would be... “rice is burnt”, “rice is half-cooked”, “the food is not edible”, “don’t know how to cook”, "same food as yesterday", etc.

I really hate it when somebody complains about food. People are literally starving to death in almost every corner of the World and yet some people are incapable of appreciating how lucky they are to have food on the dining table.

====================

Moving on to my aunt, who manifests a different behavior towards foods, she would never voluntarily eat anything that I or my eldest sister buys. Although mainly due to some personal issues, another reason is because she doesn’t like the idea of “being fed” by someone else.

She has always thought that the “feeder” should be in absolute control of the “consumer”, a very self-serving belief indeed.

I do appreciate everything that they've shared to us and I'm really grateful for it and I would be glad to return them the favor. But it won't just happen if they're not willing to accept our help and support.

I would always hear her complaining that she's been working for a very long time and that she should be retired by now. And yet she's not willing to give up the store or do anything to make that happen.

I guess, that basic fear of change have crippled her ability to become satisfied and happy in her life.

====================

It's just unfortunate because it seems that there's no way they would even consider their behavior as improper, let alone change for the better.

How would you tell a grown person to grow up?

====================

P.S. I have a lot of things on my mind regarding this topic but I find it a little difficult to put them all into writing... :(

An Expensive Month

I made two major purchases last April, one at the beginning of the month, and the other towards the end. Including the amount of taxes that I've paid, I almost hit the 6-digit mark... ouch!!!

Meet my DS Lite, Misato, named after the character in Neon Genesis Evangelion. It came with a very nice leather case and a bundled game, Brain Age 2. After a week, I bought Cooking Mama from Data Blitz, the same place where I bought my DS Lite.

I was planning to get a Wii but opted for a DS for several reasons. It's cheaper. It's safer, since it does not require major bodily movements which might cause the collapse of our house. It's compact and portable. And finally, because I wanted to play Super Robot Wars W.

I still wanted to finish the previous editions of SRW(A, R, D, J, OG1, OG2) in GBA though, before I get a copy of SRW W. So until then, I'm letting my sisters enjoy playing with Misato.

My other major item would be my new camera. It's a Canon S5 IS, which I got for a very very "tempting" price of P13K++. While on the Laguna trip with sir Melvin, Gloi called me up and asked if I wanted it. And after a careful deliberation (30+ seconds), I said yes. Then, after 2 weeks of waiting, Gloi finally arrived with it. Thanks again Gloi.. :)

I named my new camera Kaworu, who's also a character from NGE. Yeah, he's the controversial character from the Manga/Anime, which started endless debates on his sexuality, and tainted Shinji's as well, unfortunately... :(

Putting those not so important issues aside, I chose Kaworu because he's the 5th child. Asuka was the 2nd. Asuka, S2 IS and Kaworu, S5 IS. That should make a little sense now... :P

OK... now I'm feeling a little weird giving names to inanimate objects... ^_^

Anyhow, I should be minimizing my expenses in May in order to make up with the April expenses... O:)

The Last Gig

Last April 20, we visited Avilon Animal Prison, or more commonly known as Avilon Zoo. As a tribute to my semi-retired camera, I posted some of the pictures taken that day here. By the way, the full set is available on my flickr page... :)

Arapaima Gigas Feeding on Chicken Heads

Sleeping Siberian Tiger

Trixie on a Bicycle with Balancers

Flamingo

Eat Like a Jasmine Bird

Pink Flower

Budgerigars

Sun Conure

A Jas' Duck's Quack

Flock of Jas Ducks

Philippine Government Official Crocodile

Ostreeeeech!!!

Semi-Retirement

After two and a half years and more than 12,000 shots, I'm now putting my Canon PowerShot S2 IS into semi-retirement. Which means, I would no longer be bringing her along on my travels. Instead, she'll be staying at home, resting, and doing lighter tasks.

I'm not planning to sell her or give her away, because she's my 1st camera, and she's been a significant part of my life. She went as far as I could go, never complained, and gave her best, all the time. :)

I got her on September 24, 2005, a day after my return from my 1st business trip in Cebu. It was Marben who bought her from Japan, and left her with Jas on Friday (September 23). 

Coincidentally, Jas was celebrating her birthday that day. I gave her the special birthday scrapbook and box of origami's which we've made back in Cebu, in exchange for watching over my camera... :P

Since then, we've travelled to far places together, attended company outings, crashed high school reunions, enjoyed family outings, celebrated birthday parties, and many many more.

I really couldn't imagine my life in the past 2 years without her... :P

アスカちゃん。。。お疲れ様でした。

When Love Begins...

I had a really hard time uploading this image. It seems that Blogger had some technical problems. Here's the result of my poor and senseless creativity... :P

Cagayan de Oro Weekend (Day 3)

My 3rd and final installment of my CDO series. My flight was 7:40 in the morning so there was really nothing much to do.

Panic Mode

Reggie met me at the hotel around 5:30AM, we were supposed to leave for the airport, but the university service did not arrive as planned.

After minutes of wait, we started panicking because we have no idea where Mang Teddy is, and we have no way of contacting him except through Mam Christine. Although reluctant at first, we still contacted her, and she instructed Reggie to call the university.

Due to the delay, I was able to buy some pasalubong (4 boxes of Pastel) from the store just across the street.

Reggie learned from the university personnel that Mang Teddy was seen earlier but his current whereabouts is unknown.

Mang Teddy eventually came to bring us to the airport. We got to the airport in under 15 minutes with plenty of time for check-in. I bade farewell to Reggie and thanked him for his generous company during my short stay.

Boarding Time

While waiting for boarding, I also bought some souvenir shirts. One for me and another for my dad. Although they're more expensive, the quality and designs are not bad.

After I got the shirts, I noticed two guys taking turns in taking pictures with this woman. She was wearing shades so I thought she must be a TV personality of some sort. I wasn't sure if she was Bangs Garcia until I overheard a saleslady mentioning her name.

I'm not sure if the whole picture taking episode was just a ploy to attract people's attention, because it turned out that the two guys were actually with her. Anyhow, I don't remember seeing anybody else asking for a photograph so I guess they're plot failed.

I was thinking of asking a picture with her just because I wanted to see Jasmine's reaction. >:) In the end, I never had the courage to do so. :P

For those who are curious on how she looked like... from behind... just click the image... this was taken during our arrival in Manila... he he... >:P

Final Words

My Cagayan de Oro experience may have been really short, but it was indeed a memorable one. Thanks to the people that I've met and became friends with. And most importantly, for the free WiFi access all over town. :))

I'm looking forward to my next visit to the City of Golden Friendship.

Cagayan de Oro Weekend (Day 2)

The 2nd part of my CDO series... it's taking me quite some time to publish anything significant these days, it must be the weather. :P

Anyhow, I told myself that I'm gonna finish this one today, especially that the PhilNITS FE results were already out. :S

April 6 was the PhilNITS examination day. I had to be on the testing site before 7AM so I got up around 5AM, took a quick shower and had the free breakfast. Mam Christine met me at the hotel, then we proceeded to Capitol University. Taxi ride from Hotel Conchita to CU took less than 10 minutes.

When we arrived at CU, Reggie was already there. Some of the examinees were also early.

On the Exams

We started the examination at 9AM then everything else went smoothly, except for some occasional text messages from the PhilNITS counterpart in Manila, which contains the corrections for some test items.

After the AM part, we had our lunch break at the faculty room. I had grilled milk fish for lunch. Then, I rested for a few minutes in the dean's office before going back to the exam room.

For the PM part, it was pretty much the same as the AM part. As stated in the Proctor's Guidelines, we had to stay in the exam room at all times, record any unusual events that happens, record the attendance, arrange the answer sheets in a prescribed order, seal and sign the envelopes that will contain the answer sheets, any many more.

After the last examinee submitted his answer sheet, we started packing all the exam stuffs, cleaned the area, and called it a day.

Time to Relax

We decided to go to LimKetKai to relax and also to have dinner somewhere in Rosario Arcade. But before that, I had to return to the hotel to leave the big heavy box. Mam Christine, on the other hand, had to meet someone, so we just decided to meet up her sometime before dinner.

While waiting for Mam Christine, Reggie and I, hit the arcade and played some racing and shooting games. After that, we got some snacks from a nearby hotdog stand. A few minutes more, Mam Christine arrived. Then we proceeded to Rosario Arcade.

Rosario Arcade is somewhat equivalent to Greenbelt in Makati. This is where the most popular coffee shops, restaurants and bars are located. Bigby's, Sun Burst, Bo's Coffee, Taza Coffee, and Cafe Macumba, to name a few.

We ordered some drinks from Taza Coffee, shared a couple of nice stories, and went around to take some nice pictures. A few minutes more, Merbert came. He's a professor in STI, he was the thesis adviser and a good friend of Reggie. He's also a good friend of Mam Christine. By the way, Reggie and Merbert, are both younger than me, although they both agree that it's not obvious. :)

Dinner Time

After a while, we decided to order some dinner, Mam Christine and Reggie went for the buffet in East Wok, while Merbert and I settled for Cafe Macumba. I ordered fish and fries for dinner. After eating, we stayed for at least an hour more to listen to the old guy singing some nice classics. He was really good. :)

This is also the time that I discovered somebody who can recite the garbled lyrics of "Ken Lee" perfectly. It was Merbert. :P

Divisoria

The first time I heard the name, I immediately thought of the market place in Tondo. I was wrong. It turned out to be a very nice long plaza in the middle of the street populated with colorful lamp posts similar to the ones you can find in Roxas Boulevard.

During Fridays and Saturdays, they have live band performances in the evening. There's also a big screen in the middle, where people can watch TV shows, movies, and events like Pacquiao's boxing match. You can also find several blind masseurs offering their services to visitors in the plaza.

At the far end of the plaza, you'll find another popular place called "The Park Cafe". According to Mam Christine, it's similar to the park in-between Glorietta and 6750.

We stayed there for another hour or so. Talked some more, drank some more, and ate some more. Until we finally felt tired and sleepy.

They accompanied me to the hotel, said our good byes and parted ways. It was a tiring but interesting day indeed. :)

To be continued...

Recent Acquisitions

After more than a month of anticipation, it's finally here... :)

I bought this from YesAsia last March 13, but the notice from the Makati Post Office only came last week, even though the package was already there since April 2. :|

And because the package stayed there for a while, I had to pay a storage fee of P35.00. I guess this is their way of generating "extra" revenues. :P

When I went there to pick up the package, the customs guy opened it and asked me how much did I pay for it. I told him around P1500. Probably, after realizing that he won't get that much money from it, he did not bother to charge me any additional fees. >:P

It's the latest album of BoA. I recently stopped getting the singles and just opted to wait for the album because most of the songs in her singles will also appear in her album. That's another addition to my collection. :) :) :)

Despair Stuffs

Speaking of delayed packages, Jasmine purchased some items from Despair, Inc. last December. And for some unknown reason, the 1st time the item was shipped, it was lost, or probably stolen by some custom official. After weeks of e-mail correspondence with Despair, they willingly re-shipped the items. It reached the post office last February 26, and the notice came mid of March. Jasmine almost gave up on it. :P

Here's the custom calendar from Despair. You can choose your preferred Demotivator for every month. You can even add custom holidays or special events.

The 2nd item is an ego t-shirt, for people with superiority complex. Although I don't consider myself being one, wearing something like this still looks pretty cool... and provocative... >:)

Finally, a must-read book for executives and a must-not-read book for employees, according to it's author... The Art of Demotivation. I'm reading this out of pure interest and not because I'm aspiring to be an executive. O:)

It's a pretty interesting and unorthodox book with a nifty camouflage cover, supposedly boring, so that regular employees would not be interested in discovering what's in it.

At first, I thought that it was a misprint, but the author explained it in the preface section of the book.

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P.S. Happy Birthday to President Erap... Wishing you more success in your political career. >:)