TCHC was preceded by my first foray into blogging -- The Oblique Observer -- which I envisioned then to be somewhat a newsblog of sorts, turning the daily happenings of my life into news articles all written from a third person persona. Alas, that format was a bit tedious to maintain and speaking (blog-wise) in the first person (the so-called "I" persona) was easier as thoughts flowed more easily from brain to hand which then churned out what you have been reading for the last four years.
I do hope to revisit TOO one of these days and turn it into an interest-driven blogsite ... something along the lines of the speculative probably. I also just checked and found out that a proper .com for TOO can be availed (or .net, if .com gets taken) and then I can probably configure the Blogger TOO to point to the actual URL, similar to how I am currently running my revenue-generating blog (which, unfortunately until now, has not yet generated any revenue, thank you).
Getting back to CHC ... I hope it will be a better year for blogging in CHC this 2010. Last year was not really that great and it showed in the quality and quantity of entries posted. This year, I will drive myself to update CHC and the rest of my blogs more frequently as things happen and not wait for things to die down before I get to sit down in front of the computer and type away.
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My apologies to relatives, friends, and acquaintances who might be wondering why they did not hear any greeting of holiday cheers from me last month. It was a rather busy holiday -- not because of the shopping sprees and stuff -- but because of the birth of Rissa Kristelle or Baby Issa (who now weighs a hefty 5 kilos!) and the confinement of my eldest, Ikai, in the hospital for five days thanks to a late-blooming baby measles (or in Filipino, tigdas-hangin).
But you all were in my mind and have spiritually sent my greetings to all on the 25th of December and thereafter.
Apologies are in order too to the Espinos (Jasper and Olga) for not being there for your babies' special thanksgiving and baptism, and to the Cruzes (Dennis and Pilar) for missing on your chikitings' celebration as well. And I have not been a very good ninong as well -- my inaanaks Ziggy and Luis fell victim to a hiding godfather. Promise boys, the next time we see each other I will make bawi.
It seems as well that I have also failed to greet people during the Christmas break even on Facebook -- the only site which I probably checked consistently during the short times I was on the 'net -- I have been bad and naughty. No wonder, Santa Claus did not give me any gift last Christmas.
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Work in 2009 was all about transition and change.
As early as March, my mind was made up that I would be changing business addresses but that only came to fruition in August when I bailed from the gaming company where I have been working since 2006 to join the new Desk -- Philippine Veterans Bank.
The decision to switch desks was done after a thorough soul-searching and a lengthy application process. While the monthly pay dipped a bit in the new desk, the overall remuneration package helped seal the deal and I found myself donning my barongs under a new ID.
The switch to a more traditional and mainstream Desk meant a drastic and at times unbelievable culture change. Whereas everything was fast and furious and frantic at the old Desk, the pace at the new Desk was rolling at the first and second gears only. Not because there was nothing to be done but because of existing systems and rules and procedures which hark back to the good ole days at the PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies.
But all in good time. I think I am getting the hang of things right now in the new Desk.
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This post is now starting to sound like a year-in-review ... sheesh ...
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Moving on to more personally-oriented stuff ...
I hope to accomplish more this 2010 in the field of creative writing, particularly, in the field of speculative writing (or in other words, the science-fiction and fantasy genre).
Last year saw me finally taking the initial steps into the realms of SF&F writing with submissions to two calls. Even though my submitted works failed in both instances, it was still a feat for yours truly for having submitted something in the first place.
This year I hope to do better in terms of the quality of stories I will write and of course, the quantity. There are a lot of promising markets this year both in the local and international spec-fic writing scene (just look at the right column of this blog for those writing deadlines) and while it would be quite an honor to have your stories appear in mags and anthos and 'zines abroad, a worthwhile achievement would be getting your stories published locally.
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If it seems that this blog is starting to get more spec-fic related than ever it is certainly because I have seemed to embrace the genre even more.
And thanks to the presence of online blogs, sites and 'zines on the genre, my appreciation for the genre has grown exponentially the past few years. While my reading time for the actual books has diminished, getting information and news on the happenings in the genre has become easier and I now read about a lot of writers in the field as well as realize that my exposure to the genre is still quite limited (often limited by the depth of the pocket and availability of books of the spec-fic nature at your friendly, neighborhood bookstore).
But nevertheless, technology is helping bridge the gap -- what with ebooks and purchase downloads. And I hope to exploit my abroad-based sisters to purchase for me books that are unavailable here in the P.I.
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Happy to report that my first year as a futurist robo-farmer in the PSP game Innocent Life has been completed with flying colors. By that, I mean that in the first year alone, I was able to accomplish the objective of saving the world.
The walkthrough did help a lot but for this game, patience was key. And the same virtue continues to be important as I start my second year with goal of harvesting 1000 crops in the next two years.
Speaking of games, Datablitz is putting up their Sims 2 games on half-prices. According to a saleslady I spoke to in their Park Square 1 branch, they were selling Sims 2 games (main games, expansions, and stuff packs) at half-price because the games were being phased out. Of course, with Sims 3 already here (with already one expansion game as well), demand for Sims 2 has dropped.
The minute I learned of this promo my heart sang out Simlish songs in joy because to date, I only have the Sims 2 Double Deluxe game and one stuff pack -- the H&M Fashion Stuff. The cut-price on the expansions would mean moi being able to buy them -- at least the University and the Open for Business ones.
Unfortunately, both Park Square 1 and Greenbelt 1 branches of Datablitz no longer carried the stand-alone expansion packs (all they had were stuff packs and at GB the recently-released University + 2 stuff package) so I will need to scour the other DB branches and hopefully snag my targeted Sims 2 expansion packs.
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