UFO Catcher

stuffed toys and plushies

Comeeko Hardbound

Made it at comeeko.com. :D

Cross-posted at gokitomo.com, gorilla.multiply.com and gorilla.vox.com. :D

Yoyos

Bleached Lok Huat

My Yoyos

Coffee Nook

Coffee Nook SM Hypermart Pasig

Asus V80

Asus V80

Hardbound Feb 16 2007

Nats, Ron. Heidi, Harriet and Carina

Hardbound at Kamay Kainan and Starbucks

The Ring of Fire

The beginnings of this post started about a month ago when Moira asked where she could take her boyfriend when he visits the country this February. Moira's here on a short hiatus from work in China. There she met her boyfriend Chris where they're both teachers.

The suggestions ranged from the different tourist attractions the country has to offer, to dinner, to a round of paintball. Paintball was out of the question since Mommy Rhea is infanticipating. Jeez, who'd want someone 7-months on the family way being hit by a multitude of paintballs? O_o;; Moira decided on an eat-all-you-can dinner of different pinoy dishes to introduce Chris to us and the country's culinary experience.

Me, Carina, Jolly, Ron, Heidi (at back)
and Moira at Kamay Kainan

So yesterday we found our way to Kamay Kainan in West Ave. I actually got lost. Jeez, West Ave near SM City was closed to traffic because of repairs so I had to go around via Delta to reach Kamay Kainan. I parked but couldn't find the guys. I even called Carina to confirm the place.

Twilight Zone time. I was looking straight into the restaurant window and Carina said they were right in front of the window. I couldn't see them. Carina was getting frustrated. I was confused. Then I looked up at the sign. I was at Kamayan, the wrong restaurant.

Eimee, Chris and Nats

Finding my way to the right spot was easy, it was just 35 feet away. So it was once again a meeting of librarians, computer guys and teachers. I saw Chris right away with Eimee, Carina, Ron and Jolly (the others were getting food or in the little girl's room at that time). I actually thought Chris was Eimee's Spanish boyfriend (sorry, Moi, hindi kasi kayo magkatabi nun, e). O_o;;

Engaged: Jolly and Ron.

It's so nice to meet with people you know twice, thrice or even four times over. Chris, I think, was puzzled when Moira was explaining to him how I am their friend and their yoyoing-fire-breathing-ufo-catching-anime-watching former college professor (and Leira's ex). O_o;; It's like six degrees of separation only with shorter branches. Cases in point, Nats became my co-teacher and I actually know Ron's father. I worked with Ron's dad in some theater productions. Hehehe. And now daddy's little Ronara is getting married to a helluva nice guy named Jolly (name is a dead giveaway of his demeanor). :D Hehehe. Like most times, Jolly and I were laughing because of guy jokes during the night. Hey, it's a guy thing peeps. We actually missed Daddy Nap and his quips. A night out with these guys is usually a riot. Too bad Nap, Rhea and little-baby-girl-to-be couldn't make it.

Haven't been to the arcade for UFO catching in a while, I think Heidi does this too, but am not sure. Jolly asked me if I watched Bleach, the anime, nope, haven't watched anime for some time now. I get to catch that swashbuckling / historic (early french Colonial?) period anime and Tokyo Tribe 2 on Wowow, though.

Ron, Moira, curvaceous Heidi (kasi tumataba na, hindi na puro buto)
and the curvaceous Carina (kasi nag-gy-gym)

After Kamay Kainan we walked to Starbucks. Nothing like unwinding to cups of coffee and tea. And then the interrogation began.

At Starbucks West Ave.

Everyone quizzes the new couple as well as the engaged couple... Actually missed Mommy Rhea, she's the one who asks the toughest questions. Missed Abbie too, she's the most blunt. Good thing Harriet was there.

It's called the hot seat, the ring of fire, the gauntlet. It's a round table discussion, an initiation, a baptism of fire, if you will. It's designed to strip you of your inhibitions, make you think things through and clear the cloudiest of minds. It ranges from gentle ribbing, to presenting perspectives from both sides, to harsh dressing downs. Mind you, this group can see through even the most opaque of veils. People with the unholiest of intents are usually caught off guard, surgically dissected and masterfully taken down to size. I know, I've been through it (and it ain't a pretty sight, from either side).

Nats, Ron, Heidi, Harriet and Carina

I actually got to chit-chat with Emang (Eimee) during a cigarette break. Actually may kasalanan ako kay Emang. She emailed me a sponsorship package document for the UPLSAA Homecoming to be held this coming April. Being so scatter-brained at that point in time, I edited, re-worded and formatted the whole document then emailed it back to her on auto-pilot! Stupid me, working hours really cloud email reading. O_o;; Kelan ba deadline nun, Emang? Am thinking of 1/4th page na may drawing. Wala lang, trip lang.

Carina, Moira, Chris and the stunning Nats
(with new stunning Sto Niño hairdo, hehehe)

Other than her new hairdo, Nats also had this uber-cool brass bracelet. it was wide with etched patterns through and through. Brass tarnishes and stains the skin, though, according to Nats. Looked ancient Egyptian (I think O_o;;). I just had to take a pic of it.

The beauteous Nats, her bracelet, Korean peace sign
(I think that's more Japanese than Korean) and Sto. Niño locks.

What was so weird for that day was how uncharacteristically silent Moira was. Hehehe. So very unlike her. She's usually very vocal when others are in the hot seat. Probably because the shoe is now on the other foot. Chris was cool, he chatted away with Moira by his side. Moira was sweating bullets, and on the edge of her seat. Hehehehehehe!

Nats, Ron, Heidi, Harriet, Carina and Moira

Till the next ring of fire, guys and girls. See you then. :D



crossposted: gokitomo.com, gorilla.multiply.com, gorilla.vox.com.

Me Love All of You Long Time and Five Secrets

To make a long story short, I'm trying to recreate a post I made very early yesterday morning. For some reason the site didn't update my blog when I pressed the submit button! I think I took too long so my login details reset.

Anyway, hello again. It has been a long time since I posted a long one (which explains why I'm so pissed, jeez, took too long to type all that for nothing). A lot of things happened since my last long post.

Didn't gain much weight over the holidays. Weighed myself and the scale tipped at 186lbs. I thought I'd be over 200lbs with all the holiday goodness. Still need to lose 10lbs, though.

I bade goodbye to an old friend. My favorite yoyo broke. He was a Yoyojam Minimotu. He was with me for three years. He came all the way from the Asia-Pacific Yoyo Championships last 2004 courtesy of my friends. He hitched a ride with them before he was given to me in Toytown Libis. We had a good run, he had always been with me whenever I performed in Christmas and birthday parties of my my nieces, nephews and inaanaks. He was also my main yoyo when I won in the Artistic Performance division at the 2005 Philippine National Yoyo Championships. Then, 2 weeks ago, I made a wrong yoyo return move, he crashed to the floor side first and he broke. I will surely miss him.

Why wasn't I able to post regularly? I was working on lettering and retouch for Seven Seas / Gomanga's Neconoclasm. Do pick it up when it gets published. :D

The Gorilla got a Flickr account just recently. I also added the Logahead Flickr widget to show recent thumbnails. I got the account because I could now take more and bigger pics with my new phone, an ASUS V80, my Christmas gift to myself.

My ASUS V80 is my new workhorse. It's more than my phone and cam, it serves as my personal media player (PMP). I slapped on a Transcend 2Gb miniSD for more storage. It does have its pros and cons besides the usual SMS, MMS and voice call functions.

PROS

• 2" TFT 176x220 260,000-color screen displays video nicely, animated gif wallpaper rocks on them!
• Plays FM radio, audio and video. It actually comes pre-loaded with Sugarfree mp3s, which I don't really listen to. Earphones actually act as the radio's antenna too.
• Mp3 equalizer functions, shuffle and repeat.
• Auto-playlists, sort and play based on ID3 data like artist, album and genre.
• File Manager allows for playing audio and video folder contents (which is how I organize my mp3s).
• External boombox speaker for audio and handsfree.
• 55Mb internal storage capacity.
• Additional miniSD support up to 2Gb, also acts as USB storage.
• 2 megapixel camera, CMOS sensor, 10cm macro mode, night mode, flash, flashlight, sequential capture, timed capture, up to 5 focus zones, frames, effects and QR code capability.
• Flight mode, bluetooth and handsfree.
• ASUS software for easy file transfer, transcoding, custom playlist generation and address book editing.
• USB for data transfer and charging. I actually haven't used the USB wall charger since I've always charged via PC USB.
  

CONS

• Only 2.5mm earphones fit in the audio plug. The usual 3.5mm earphones need a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter plug. But I can live with that. I've found that SONY earphones work very well with my unit.
• The rubber tip of the joystick fell off after two days. No great loss, I've learned to live without it.
• No 3G.
• Like what many ASUS phone users complain about, executing a space is difficult if you've texted a lot using Nokia phones. Pressing the space key (0) takes one to a symbols menu to choose punctuations, symbols or space. One workaround is pressing right on the joystick to move to the next place, but this adds to joystick usage.
• Video has to be converted to 176x220 in 3gp or mp4 format. Solved by the included ASUS software and by 3GP Converter.

Despite the negatives, I still like it. I never leave home without it. I even bought a car FM transmitter so I could pump out the audio through the car speakers. Sitti Navarro, acapella, bossanova, The Crow, Desperado, DOA and Kung fu Hustle rock on the way home. I'm thinking of getting an Archos too for more PMP power. :D

With all the work I missed a tag by Juned over at baratillo.net. It's about 5 secrets. I'm actually finding it hard to answer it since my life's practically an open book, and I've already spilled my guts in previous posts. So... here goes...

1. I ate glue and paste in grade school. Funny. I think that prepared me for fire-breating later in my life.
2. I once belonged to Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 mailing lists. O_o;; Hey, they were the only ones around at that time.
3. Desperado, The Crow and Neon Geneis Evangelion somehow have a great effect on my life. I really dunno, it might be because of all the revenge, how they kick you in the nuts, make you walk away pondering about life and making you want to dynamite a lot of stuff after watching. Jeez, I love this stuff! :D
4. My heroes are comedian Pablo Francisco, skill toy performer and comedian Steve Brown and talk show host and head of security Steve Wilkos (he's been subbing for Jerry Springer for some time now, grapevine has it he's going to have his own show). Heck, Pablo Francisco's movie voiceover man bit is a classic, Steve Brown's innovation of freehand play and Steve Wilkos' accosting aggressive guests by telling them he'll knock them on their ass if they continue to be abusive all really get to me. Heck, I really love they way they somehow say "to hell with the world, I'm doing it my way" and end up touching and helping a lot of people along the way.
5. My dream is to to set up a Beowulf-class cluster at home. :D All that computing power at my fingertips. Next up is me taking over the world! Bwahahaha!
   

So that's that. Thanks for reading. :D Hopefully it will post on my blog now. (keeping my fingers crossed)

Cross-posted on http://gokitomo.com, http://gorilla.multiply.com, http://gorilla.vox.com and http://myspace.com/igorcabbab.