Guess Who Is Back in Town?

Welcome to the Coffee House Chronicles.

I've never really left. 

It's just that it has been a very long, long while since I last posted here and to be frank about it, thoughts of shutting down this blog have entered my mind. In the end though, I elected to leave this space in cyber be for just a wee longer until I get into that state of mind where I would have the drive to write again.

My last post in the CHC was a day and a year ago and it was a review of a book. Thereafter, I've been re-miss in the upkeep of this site but as friends and acquaintances would know, I've been keeping myself somewhat visible on Facebook but never too engrossed that I find myself refreshing my FB timeline every 10 seconds.

I've kept myself busy with family and work, of course. And the move to our new place last year took also quite a bit of my time what with adjusting and all to the new environment. 

On those times that I've found some little time for myself, I've managed to read a few genre books and I've rediscovered my love for comics -- actual, physical, tangible comics -- thanks to Facebook where I was able to find individuals of the same interest. 

I've started to rebuild somewhat my comic collection from the 1980's which numbered roughly about 50 or so pieces of variously titled one-shots but I've found myself now to be in possession of over 300 pieces of comics. Many of these, I've not even read yet (like many books in my disheveled shelf that have yet to be crackled open).

I've also developed a fondness for the genre TV series, many of which are of good production value. There's been a massive explosion of genre shows on the small screen on the other side of the globe and thanks to the internet, we're hearing of them even though they're not being shown locally (well, many are shown on the local cable, truth to be told). 

While I haven't really dived yet into the Game of Thrones fever (read the first four books already though, A Dance of Dragons remains TBR), I've already finished binge-watching Doctor Who starting from the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), 10th Doctor (David Tennant), and partially, the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith, still haven't quite gotten to Series 6 yet). I've already finished the 12th Doctor's first run so you could say,I'm pretty up to date with space and time-traveling Gallifreyan.

BBC's Sherlock TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch as PI Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson is another winner in my books and I've also managed to finish all 5 seasons of weird sci-fi series Fringe which is probably one of the best TV series I've ever watched. 

Other TV series that I've grown to love and look forward to the past several years include Falling Skies (on its final season this year), Arrow, Continuum (starring the lovely Rachel Nichols aka Scarlet on the GI Joe movie franchise), Penny Dreadful, Person of Interest, and Warehouse 13. Other recent favorites are Gotham, The Flash, and 12 Monkeys. 

So, you could say I've been keeping myself quite busy and this a reason why I haven't written one post for an entire year.

Let's try to change that this time around as I'll try to post something here every now and then. Something funny, something serious. There'll be genre, of course -- there's no avoiding that but we'll try to keep that to a minimum. I'd like to be able to do reviews though -- movies and TV series I've watched, books and comics, I've read, places I've been to -- as that would add variety to our Monday Mumblings, Tuesday Tidbits, Wednesday Warbles, Thursday Tattles, Friday Frolicks, and to our Weekend Whims.

Stay tuned, folks. 

wednesday warbles: initial thoughts on a.g.o.t., religious stuff with ikai, toxic at the desk, 200

Still breathing, folks :)

Over the course of the last two weeks, my to-do list at the Desk has ballooned from 20-plus to over 35 items late last week. Today, Wednesday, I have managed to trim it down to 25 ... so far ... but the deadlines are on the hound. 

However, before I go insane though, I decided to take a break and write a few warbles (it's a Wednesday, after all) and to let you know that I'm still here, alive and kicking (and getting a caffeine fix to get the gray matter going).

* * * *

Initial thoughts on George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones?

I'm only on page 184 of the mass market paperback edition but at this early in the reading, I could say that the plot (and plots and sub-plots and counter-plots) is already beginning to thicken. We're already beginning to see the pieces of the entire machinery of the series starting to move and it could only get more complex (and complexer) as the series progresses. We're getting hints of motives and motivations, of the politics and intricacies of ruleship that define the reign of King Robert Baratheon, of the incoming conflict that would result in the power struggle all amidst the drapery of an incoming winter spell.

Brilliant! Brilliantly written and that GRRM is one heck of a writer. I do hope the rest of the series doesn't disappoint. But judging from the praise the series has received all over (resulting to a TV adaptation), there's little to doubt that the series will disappoint. 

After reading the opening chapters, I definitely need to get my hands on the next set of books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series to avoid the "bitin" syndrome.

* * * * 

How do you explain religious differences toa 4-year old?

I was posed this question earlier this morning by my daughter. Apparently, one of the assignments given by their teacher is that all students should bring a rosary everyday (Ikai goes to St. Paul's College - Makati, even if she is Protestant-christened). And being the 4-year old she is, she has said that she has to bring a rosary because all her classmates were bringing theirs.

I told her that she doesn't need to bring a rosary because she was not Catholic.

"What is Catholic, Papa?"

Uh-oh, cornered. 

After a few seconds of thinking about the best way to answer a 4-year old, I sat beside her and proceeded to explain religious schism. I told her that all people prayed and believed in only One God. That everyone believed in Jesus as well. However, I told Ikai that not all people prayed and believed in God and Jesus in the same way. There are groups of people who are called Catholics who pray to God in one way and then there are others called Protestant who pray to God another way. It just so happened that she goes to a Catholic school even though she is a Protestant.

I told her that she doesn't have to follow how her classmates pray to God but that there's no harm if she wants to follow as well.

A bit too much to digest but I think Ikai understood. She's a bright little girl after all.

But to comfort her, I got her diary and scrawled a note to her teacher asking if Ikai, being a Protestant, needs to bring a rosary as well. I told Ikai she has to show her diary to her teacher and that her teacher will answer. If however my daughter still wants a rosary (it's hard to feel different from the rest of your classmates, of course -- she's only 4 after all), we agreed that she will ask her grandparents (my parents, of course) for a rosary.

"May rosary naman sila Lolo Ely sa car, di ba?"

I think someone little is being too tad observant and has one heck of a memory :)

* * * *

Walking along the same lines, I think our daughter is having a bit of crisis of faith, in her own way of course. And that's probably partly our fault as we enrolled her in an all-Catholic school.

As it is unavoidable, Catholic students do Catholic things -- pray specificied prayers and do the sign of the cross. They're even taught that. Ikai of course, wasn't taught those things. Even in Sunday School at the UCCP Cosmopolitan Church, there were no set prayers or sign of the crosses. They pray, they sing praises, they do Christian stuff -- the Protestant way.


So, it's a bit confusing for her right now so I guess that's why the talk about Catholics and Protestants this morning might help.

I just thought about this a few secs back because I remember when I accompanied Ikai on her school field trip last month, before the bus left, her teacher led the prayer -- "In the Name of the Father, the Son ..." and I espied Ikai minutely doing the sign of the cross, taking care that I didn't see her making the Catholic prayer gesture. But the small movements caught my attention and she looked sheepishly at me, embarassed at being caught as if doing something wrong. 

I smiled at her and told her it was alright if she wanted to do the sign of the cross. No harm done. None offense taken. 

* * * *

I saw my weighing scale this morning after I got out of the shower. So, I said to myself, let's see if all the calorie-counting I've been doing the past several weeks has been helping.

I adjusted the knob so that the needles points exactly to "0", stepped on the scale and voila -- 200lbs?! I can't farkin believe it. So, I get off again and on again and the needle still points to 200. 

So, I step off again and for the third time step on the scale and this time the needle went 202 lbs. Repeated attempts resulted to 202-ish marks. That settled it.

Still an improvement from my 206 lbs. a month ago. I need to rev up the walking regimen and keep on calorie counting.

* * * *

Right, time to get back to work now. Ciao!

friday frolics: happy f-day, lists of books, old video games

Happy Father's Day!

That greeting goes for my Father -- Ely Ragandan, and of course, to all the fathers I know including my uncles, my cousins, my nephews, my friends, my current anf former officemates, and all the menfolk I have known who are now doting fathers to their respective sons and daughters, and yes, even grandchildren.

* * * *

Just had to put that out up front lest I don't get a chance to do it over the weekend as I'm not yet sure whether I'll have time to go online and blog.

Sadly, prior unshakeable commitments make it impossible for us to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday with my folks. And even though Monday has been declared a holiday, Elvie has work so that really ended plans for the family to go to Laguna this weekend. We'll just have to do the celebration another day then.

In any case, experience dictates that Father's Day isn't only confined to just one day -- every second, minute, hour, or day you spend with your children is already Father's Day. It's all in the mind, and in the heart :)

* * * *

And since it'll be a forthcoming three-day weekend, I hopefully can find the time to finally finish off the Hercules' Labors episode in Zeus: Master of Olympus and move on to the next episode.

While the game is an open sandbox (meaning there's really no definitive end to it), by completing the remaining two episodes (each episode consisting of about 4-5 chapters), it'll be akin to finishing the game (and then move on to the next level of difficulty). Plus, there are scores of downloadable episodes made by fans over at Zeus Heaven.

After this, I just need to locate my Poseidon expansion CD and it'll be off to Atlantean episodes thereafter :)

* * * *

When I was younger and had less responsibilities, roles, and commitments, there were lots of time to play video-games. And back then, I didn't even own my own computer.

My friend and former office-mate, Noel (Happy Father's Day, pre!), and I installed various games on our respective PCs. Since we were in marketing, we were provided with the top-of-line PCs, Noel's PC a bit more powerful than mine mainly because he doing graphic design stuff. Where did we get time to play? Well, off-hours, of course, meaning before work, during lunch-time, and after work. And yes, we even sneaked in a few minutes or so during work hours just to stave off the boredom.

I remember waking up quite early and leaving Laguna for the office before the sun was up just so I could have about 2 hours playtime. Offices opened at 9am so I was usually in the office by 7am and after a quick breakfast, went on to play. Lunch was also a quick affair -- at times done while playing. And then, staying on for another hour or so -- not for overtime work -- but to play. There was a period I was so addicted to a game that I left home at 5am just so I'll be in the office before 6am to play.

What sort of games are we talking about?

Well, some of those games I continue to play today like Zeus, Nox, and Dungeon Keeper 2. We also played the likes of Starcraft and Warcraft, plus Diablo. Noel tended more to play with action-packed games like MechWarrior, Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft, and Half-Life while I leaned more towards simulations including Sim City, The Sims (1), and ThemePark World. I also played Odium for a while and almost finished Septerra Core but games I actually managed to finish during that time included Freedom Fighters, Max Payne 1, and Medal of Honor and its expansion packs. I also wasted a lot of hours on Grand Theft Auto III and on Asterix and Obelix. Noel and I, and sometimes with other colleagues in the department battled it out with the IT guys over Counter-Strike. It was CS that gained the notice of management. Apparently, since a lot of people played CS over the office network, the bandwidth was severely hogged by those playing that this caused the disruption of certain services including internet and email services. That ended networked games and we were back to playing solo.

Those were the days :)

* * * *

Unfortunately, Fully Booked Greenbelt didn't have copies of Philippine Speculative 6 on hand when I went there yesterday noon. They did have copies of the earlier volumes except for Volume 4 so I'll make sure to secure copies of those one of these days.

* * * *

To help me in my book prowls, I've started keeping small bits of papers in my wallet that lists down books I hope to add into my collection. This'll be helpful when I find myself deliberately or unexpectedly in bookstores and book bins with moolah to spare. At least I won't have to wrack my brains trying to remember whether I already have a book in a particular series.

Anthologies and stand-alone novels are no problem.

The problematic ones are those that are part of a series and many sci-fi and fantasy books belong to such. That won't be a problem with books by Brian Jacques which do not require you having prior knowledge from earlier books. However, if a epic story is split into a trilogy or a quad or pentad, that becomes a problem. I still have in my collection volumes 2 and 3 of the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant which I bought on sale but have yet to secure volume 1.

My wallet now has lists for the following:

• missing books from the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques (I've actually amassed over half already of all volumes, just missing the more recent ones)
• missing books from the Left Behind series
• Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Robot series
• list of books under the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica Series by James Owen
• George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series (seems that book 1 -- A Game of Thrones -- is usually out of stock in recent days)
• books from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld (which like Jacques' can be read out of order but I've downloaded a reading guide some weeks ago that would help a newbie like me)

The latest list to join my bits of paper in the wallet is a list of core steampunk books that'll help one appreciate the genre.

When I get to buy a book from one of the lists, then I simply cross it out. So, these bits of paper will be staying for a while in my wallet as I'm not buying books as much as I used to.

* * * *

Happy weekend, folks!

the oblique observer is being resurrected

I'm resurrecting The Oblique Observer and turning it into something akin to an autobiography whereby I'll try and record memorable stuff that have happened in my life. The stuff I put in there may be serious, funny, or nonsense but it'll be something factual, something that I experienced, something that I'll most likely never forget (except when I get amnesia or Alzheimer's sets in).

Like I said in that blog's description -- Reminiscing, remembering, and recording the old stuff lest I forget!

Hopefully I'll be able to start blogging on TOO soon :) Wish me luck, folks!

counting cars

A solo trip to Shopwise-Pacita yesterday yielded yet another Hot Wheels old car model for the collection. The culprit is a custom 1940 open-top Ford.

I think I've mentioned a few blogs ago that I've limited my car collecting to those little wheelies up to 1960 (the sole exception is a 1968 Chevy Camaro which was the first collectible car I bought to start off the new hobby). The older the model, the better. The next consideration is the price of the car I buy. So far, I haven't bought anything beyond the Php 100 range but I do believe if my pockets would allow it, I can shell out the moolah to buy one of those more expensive brands like Greenlight, M2M, and Jada. Another criterion is the size -- my car collection is in the 1:64 scale. The bigger the scale, the more expensive it becomes so I haven't really seen myself buying one of those Bburango or Kinsmart models but their old car models sure look swell. Maybe, again, when the pockets become deep enough. For now, I find solace in just buying these little wheelies.

From my current crop of cars, my favorite would be the 1938 Phantom Corsair, all-black with white-rimmed tires. The car just speaks of power and intimidation. It's also the most spacey-looking so I guess that's the sci-fi fan in me being biased. Next dearest to my heart is the 1936 Cord 810 Sedan (pictured below) which I found hiding among old HW stock cars of Blade, the auto-accessories store. In fact, a lot of my purchases have been from various Blade stores as they carry older -- mostly late 90s to early 00s -- models while most toy stores carry only the latest or at least last year's models.

Except for two vehicles, all my cars are Hot Wheels ones. I've not much luck with Matchbox yet or another brand. While I still look at Maisto's offerings, I'm turned off by the quality of the wheels they use. The other 1:64 brands are more on the pricier side and although they are available at toy stores, I'm put off by their prices. Some offers on the web are cheaper (along the Php 150 - Php 200 range) but maybe next time.

My collection is currently composed of 13 vehicles and I hope to add more in the days to come. I'll probably need to find enough space to house them (the cars are still in their blister packs) as they'll soon be occupying half of the storage of the bottom drawer at the Desk. Hopefully, I'll be able to add other brands as well and not just limiting myself to Hot Wheels. That'll make the car collection truly remarkable.

monday mumblings: goodbye leila, new rig, new book, new way to escape traffic to tagaytay

Last week ended on a rather sad note.

Last Saturday as I was getting ready for a day at the mall, I received a text message from a former colleague that another former colleague of ours, and a dear and wonderful friend, Leila Luna-Cacanindin, had just passed away.

Leila had been battling a form of ovarian cancer for about 7 months now. Unfortunately, her body, already weakened by the ordeal wasn't able to last any longer but as narrated by her mother and her husband, she was still being funny and her usual jolly self towards the end. And according to her mom, she just slept and didn't suffer any pain when she relinquished her hold on life early morning of Saturday.

Yesterday, a group of Leila's friends and colleagues (present and former) including myself and Elvie trekked to Tagaytay to pay our respects to our dearly departed friend and console Lei's loved ones.

Our condolences to Leila's bereaved loved ones, including her mother, her husband Obet, and her daughter, Yshia.

* * * *

Our entourage to Leila's wake included a certain 4-year old with a knack for asking questions that demand rather hard-to-explain answers.

While Ikai primarily went with us because she wanted to see Ate Yshia (Ikai attended Yshia's seventh birthday last January), she also got to see a a departed person in a coffin for the first time in her life. While she did not show any fear or apprehension, she of course was curious about all that was happening inside Yshia's home.

Before the wake, we had already explained to her in as simple terms as possible the circumstances about Leila's death, euphemizing death as "the sleep you never wake up from". We told her that Yshia's mom is already in heaven with Jesus and that people are going to be sad and some might be crying because they won't be able to be with Yshia's mom. I even tried explaining to her using science -- explaining that the spirit is like the phase of matter gas -- can't be seen and that this

spirit/gas has already went to heaven leaving the solid / body behind.

Arriving home last night from the wake, Ikai got me cornered and peppered me with more questions.

Apparently, she thought that heaven was the rectangular box Leila's mother was in so I had to explain that the coffin wasn't heaven and that heaven was somewhere else. She asked where and I said no one knows (a hard answer to say to a child, mind you). I again tried to explain that sometimes people sleep forever and never wake up and that they leave loved ones behind and reunite with them later on (as in really later on and not just like next week or so)

I believe in the course of that 20-minutes-something conversation I may have used words such as death, dead people, spirit, ghost, heaven, after-life, etc. etc. but I don't think I made the notion of death any clearer to her.

However, when I closed my eyes for a bit, Ikai suddenly shook my arm and said in a rather alarmed voice, "Bakit mo close yung eyes mo, Papa?".

I ended the conversation (before it turned morbid) by saying that things like death and dead people she will understand when she gets older. Ikai started to say why again but I cut her off with a basta and again told her that when she gets older, she'll understand.

* * * *

The big red car is missing one mudguard so while in SM Megamall last Saturday, I found myself inside Concorde, the car accessories shop hoping to score a new mudguard.

After a few minutes of going around the shop, I found the mudguards but they had no Innova '07 mudguards on display. I went to a store personnel and asked where I could find '07 Innova mudguards and after receiving a baffled look, he directed me to another part of the store and pointed to door sunvisors and promptly left me for another customer. Egad!

To their credit, they had a lot of customers that time so I guess they were hilong-talilong so I forgave the first chap and proceeded to get the attention of another store personnel. I went to one and asked if they had the mudguards I needed. He motioned affirmative and led me to another area in the store, pointed at the shelf and left. Unfortunately, he pointed to those decorative fiber glass

stuff you could put on your vehicle's hood. What I needed went under the car, not above it.

Seeing that getting the right mudguard would be pointless at that time, I left the store but not before commenting to the lady security guard that their store personnel needed additional training.

* * * *

There's a new rig in the apartment.

That was the main reason for the trip to Megamall as we had ample resource to buy a new rig.

But it wasn't a full laptop that we purchased but a netbook, an Asus Eee PC which we scored for a very friendly amount. Albeit, the downside is that it didn't come with an OS so before the 30-day trial lapses, I need to get the netbook installed with a full Windows 7 OS. I asked if it were possible to install Windows XP on it but the personnel at Complink told me that the netbook's drivers were meant for at least a Windows 7 OS. I guess that settled it.

The new Asus is a decent enough machine -- 1 GB DDR3 memory with a 250GB hard disk. It runs on an Intel Atom N450 processor with integrated video graphics. I don't expect to play Sims 2 on this machine but it had no problem running the FB games I play. It's not as fast as I had hoped it would be but then again, the machine does what it's meant to do -- surf the net, connect to wi-fi, and well, although untested yet, I think it'll be able to do your usual MS Office stuff: word processing, MS Excel, and probably Power Point.

For the meantime, this netbook will have to do. We're still looking at purchasing a full laptop but it's not a priority right now.

* * * *

A day after writing that I was meaning to buy as my next book purchase James A. Owen's The Search for the Red Dragon, I contradicted myself and bought instead the second installment of The Mysterious Benedict Society.

In all honesty, I already had The Search for the Red Dragon in my hand at Power Books last Saturday and was on my way to the cashier (with my daughter, Ikai, in tow after we purchased a couple of activity books for her) when I espied the second volume of Trenton Lee Stewart's series hawked on the stands at a irresistably lower price.

I immediately looked again at the price of the book I had in my hand -- Php 379 -- and looked again at The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey on the display -- Php 279 -- and after a few seconds of thinking of buying the two books, I sheepishly returned the higher priced book to its shelf. Sorry, James. Next time.

I still ended up paying Php 295 for the Stewart book. Why? Because I overlooked their ad -- they were selling the book for Php 279 if you bought it with a Citibank credit card. Since I bought the book in cash, I didn't get the discount (on most occasions, the promo works the other way around, you get a lower price if you pay in cash).

And here's the clincher ... I found myself at Fully Booked Greenbelt over lunch today and smacked my forehead with my hand in utter disbelief --- Fully Booked was selling the same Stewart book for a freaking Php 280! I've been had!

* * * *

Incidentally, Fully Booked also sells the third volume of The Mysterious Benedict Society series entitled The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma at a slightly higher price -- Php 285. Resisted the urge to bring out the wallet and hurried myself out of Fully Booked before my impulsive book-buying self emerged.

* * * *

Dreading the weekend traffic to Tagaytay on the usual route?

Take the alternate -- via Aguinaldo Hi-Way.

It's not a shortcut. It's a longer route but it gets you to Tagaytay faster (for now) because you avoid the traffic hassles of Paseo de Sta. Rosa and Nuvali (both ways!).

From SLEX, exit either at Southwoods or Carmona and head off to Governor's Drive. Drive the route all the way to SM Dasma and then turn left on Aguinaldo Hi-way. It's then a straight travel up to the Tagaytay rotunda. Saves you some 40 minutes of travel time and when you drive a stick shift like I do, you would want to avoid the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay road traffic jams at all cost!

It's actually not a new route. It's actually an old route but people have generally by-passed it in favor of the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road because the latter is shorter. Unfortunately, like I said, the developments along the shorter route to Tagaytay have compounded the traffic jams that made traveling the shorter route take a longer time.

tuesday tidbits: issa at 8 months, hk trip, bookcase, apartment, cartoons, cq40

Hmm, I've been quite remiss in maintaining this here blog of mine that my long-time partner-in-crime turned OFW in the big desert, Noel, has pointedly informed me for the second such time that he has been frequenting The Coffee House Chronicles and I've been caught red-handed not updating for weeks on weeks.

Belated happy birthday, my friend, and I hope to sit down with you for some sugar-free coffee when you do come home for a vacation.

As for maintaining my blog (as it seems to be a source of tsismis for you :P), I'll try and keep you entertained by posting frequently especially when work (and FB games) don't get in the way of the upkeep.

* * * *

I just realized that it has been 2 months since my last post. What have I been doing the past 8 weeks that have kept me from blogging?

Well, family stuff mostly demanded my time last month as my sister, Wheng, flew in from Dubai, UAE for her annual vacation and our weekends were spent mostly at our home in San Pedro, Laguna. Being a school month, my sister only got to spend time with her pamangkins on the weekend. So, as soon as school and office were done on Fridays, we got on board the "big red car" (that's what Ikai calls our ride) and sped off to Laguna for the weekend.

And oh, yeah, we went to Hong Kong last month. My parents, Wheng, Elvie and our little ones spent four days and three nights in HK thanks to the discounted airfare we bought way back in April. So, even though things were rather tight on the financial side of things, we pushed through with the trip and enjoyed it actually -- enough to warrant us (me and wifey) to yearn for more as the trip was bitin.

The highlight of the trip was supposed to be Disneyland Hong Kong but it turned out that our visits to The Peak (via the Peak Tram, of course!) and to the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum were more enjoyable than the chaos we encountered in Disneyland HK. Even Ikai didn't enjoy the Disney trip as she was made to wait in line for at least 45 minutes before getting to board the 3-minute ride. In 6 hours spent at the amusement park, she only managed to ride 5 rides.

I was amazed with the efficiency of their train system -- their MTR. Using the MTR was a bit intimidating, at first, but you quickly learn to navigate your way around. Every sign was bilingual so you won't really get lost unless you can't read or dyslexic. For a big part of the three days, our mode of transport in HK was mainly the MTR and on every trip, you'll get to appreciate the efficiency of the system. I could only hope that the same thing can be achieved with our own MRT-LRT-PNR rail system.

I did a lot walking while in HK especially during the nights when the weather was cooler (August is summer in HK -- summer with much rain!). When everyone else was tired and was off to bed early, I strolled the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon -- not shopping or eating but just taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of one of the world's most vibrant cities.

I could ramble on and on about our trip but let's leave that for another day. For pictures, my sister Wheng has posted two galleries on her Facebook account (here) so no point in duplicating them here in CFC.

* * * *

And while in HK, we celebrated Baby Issa's 8th month!

We didn't go out as everyone was tired and just stayed at the hostel for a Yoshinoya feast. To top it off, we bought a "mango" cake from a popular HK bakeshop.

The photo on the right shows my sister, Wheng, holding Baby Issa along with Ikai who can't wait for the dinner to commence.

Issa is now 9 months old.

* * * *

My trusty Nokia 6680 opted for suicide and promptly died on me yesterday. I know I can still get that repaired somehow and a new battery will extend its life some more but as that is unexpected expenditure that I cannot expedite for now, I'm going low-tech with a Nokia 3100 circa 2003.

This 3100 was all-jazzy and hi-tech with its colored screen some seven years ago but in today's standards -- it's simply prehistoric. The 3100 I'm using however is quite well-traveled. This one was the same 3100 my sister, Rochelle, asked me to buy for her in 2003 (under my name as she had no permanent work that time and thus would have slim chances of getting a postpaid line). After the lock-in period lapsed, she had it "unlocked" so that she could use another network's prepaid sim. Then in 2004, it went to the US when my sister went there where it was in use mainly as a roaming phone until my sis settled for a local carrier that had her use Motorola. This 3100 went back to the P.I. last year via padalas and was used by my father as a Globe phone (for playing a text game on Eat Bulaga, of all things) until he realized he was wasting his cellphone load on a game whereby his chances of winning were close to nil. It has then stayed "in the cupboard" until I resurrected it yesterday.

For now, this'll be my main phone until I get the 6680 fixed. My wife has been teasing me to get a new phone and maybe I will. The new Samsung Champ looks attractive enough -- price-wise and feature-wise :)

* * * *

My laptop also underwent repairs last month.

A couple of months before the warranty expired, my Compaq CQ40 started exhibiting "flickering" symptoms. I would later find out through online research that the LCD "flickering" problem was a popular one for such units and the best solution would be to have the entire LCD replaced.

I've also read up on problems encountered by Pinoys who have availed of the service at the HP Service Center and when I finally found the time to drop by and get the rig repaired, I was ready for an all-out war (online horror stories about repairs for the CQ40 reported a month-long stay of your unit at the service center among other things). In my case, I was actually surprised that it took no more than a week to get my LCD replaced (it being a hardware problem) and getting the laptop back was a delay on my part as I wasn't able to go to the service center due to conflicting schedules.

It's been one month since I placed the rig under repair and so far it has shown any recurrence of the flickering issue. Kudos to HP Service Center! One satisfied customer here!

* * * *

The desk has blocked access to all forms of social networking -- FB, Twitter, Foursquare -- and even access to blogging has been blocked. That alone has hampered my ability to be more frequent in my posting.

When I come home after work, of course, one has to spend time with family. After 8 or so hours away, who would not want to be loved ones, right? And I've made it a point to spend time with Ikai and help her with her assignments (especially with Elvie doing the shifting schedule once in a while). And while Ikai is makulit and I find myself sometimes raising my voice to curb her naughtiness and focus on studying and finishing her homework, I do enjoy my time with my daughter as we tackle her schoolwork.

* * * *

Remember me blogging about the need to cough up a bookcase so that my books won't be cluttering the apartment?

Well, the bookcase has been bought and now is part of our bedroom's furniture. It stands right next to the TV stand and is need, one of these days, of a serious re-arrangement as books, magazines and other bits and ends like photo albums, school supplies, tin can (containing mementos), coloring books (Ikai's), etc. have been placed haphazardly.

This bookcase was a 4-level D-I-Y from Shopwise which I assembled in under an hour. To prevent it from warping (especially the first three shelves from the bottom), you had to make sure the bottom portions were filled to the brim with books. You had wedge books so that the shelves maintained their levels. The heaviest and widest stuff were at the bottom -- large books, magazines (my Entrepreneur, FHM, Heavy Metal, and Dragon issues). The next level contained special edition sized or UK-sized or special soft-cover books. These books were joined by several stacks of conventionally-sized pocketbooks. The third level was for pocketbooks. The last level had photo albums, my comics and graphic novels, Ikai's books, and a few more odds and ends.

As expected, the bookcase couldn't contain all my books. There are probably about a dozen or so books still scattered all over the apartment (and a couple more stacks left at Laguna) so another bookcase is needed but that will have to wait until we get a bigger abode.

* * * *

Speaking of abode ... we will be moving again next year as soon as school is out.

The new owner of the apartment row where we currently reside has decided to increase the rent by more than 20% and we just feel the new rental amount isn't practical. For the increased rental amount you can get a bigger space somewhere and that's what we intend to find out.

We've already given notice and by early next year we would have to start looking around. We're hoping to be able to find a reasonably-priced place still within Makati as this is the most practical for us. My wife and I are both working in Makati while Ikai and her cousin, Mark (who is living with us), both have their schools here. While we're planning to move Ikai to a bigger school next year, our target school is still located within Makati.

Any suggestions? Preferably somewhere in the vicinity of Guadalupe Viejo-Poblacion-Olympia and where it doesn't flood. Around the same time last year, the apartment was inundated. Good thing we had a second floor.

The apartment or house for rent has to be a couple of stories with at least 2 bedrooms (three would be much better) and public transport is accessible. We're looking for one that has its own garage and its own electric and water meters.

* * * *

Oh, I've been sketching again ... a lot ... mostly on scratch papers when I'm thinking or talking to someone on the phone in the office. That's the only time I get to doodle hence a lot of my drawings are mostly half-baked stuff on the margins of documents, or, like I said, the back of scratch papers.

Will post them one of these days. Need to get photos of them first.

* * * *

One of my website domains is expiring soon and I don't have enough moolah yet to renew it! Aaarghhh!!! I'll need to tighten the spending a bit as I really need to renew the domain and not let it go to waste.

* * * *

Got lots of cartoons to watch! I've managed to secure copies of several DC Animated Universe direct-to-video films such as Green Lantern: First Flight, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Batman: Gotham Knight, and Superman/Batman:Apocalypse.

Now, I just need time to enjoy, savor and cherish these. Hay!

* * * *

That should be enough for now, folks. I'll try to post more frequently, promise :)

online and foursquared

Wow! Over a month of not doing any update on this here blog and here I thought I was just a couple of weeks offline.

And now, it's already June :)

Well, almost offline as I am almost always online in one way or another -- on Facebook (recently under fire again for privacy controls) and a new social media site that centers on your location -- FourSquare. The latter works more brilliantly if you're surfing on the go and as stated on their site, FourSquare works well with an iPhone, a Blackberry, a Palm or a phone that runs the Android OS. Or if you have a smartphone with mobile connection (that doesn't suck you clean of internet-access moolah), that also works well.

As for me, I'm accessing the site through the computer and I do cheat with the check-ins -- I update my check-ins even before I reach my destination :P I'm heading that way anyway, I justify to myself.

Hopefully in several months' time I'll be engaging in the total FourSquare experience when I upgrade my mobile phone. The iPhone is an option but being the don't-go-for-what-everyone-has type of nerd, I'm looking at Samsung and Sony-Ericsson phones that are running Android. Specifically, am looking at the SE Xperia10a (note there's a space between E and X, perverts!). But as I've mentioned to the FB world a couple of weeks back, the cost of the unit is astronomical. My trusty N6680 (which is now being used by my sis-in-law) only cost me a few thousand bucks. The Xperia will set me back some 30++ thousands! The iPhone is slightly lower but still cost-prohibitive. I'd much rather buy a small netbook ha ha ha.

Oh, what phone am I using now? Curious, you. I'm using a E71 Pro rip-off, made in China, bought for me by my sister in Dubai. Its casing and look is similar to the Nokia E71 Pro but has a built-in TV and radio (with the eye-sore pull-out antenna) -- much like what MyPhone is hawking in cellphone stores. But its unreliable and lacks the features one would look for a smartphone (my 6680 was a better phone thanks to its Symbian OS). I couldn't even load ebooks in my current phone because there's simply no program / software that would allow me to do so.

But one thing I've developed by using this rip-off is the use of QWERTY keys -- I like :) So, the next phone, aside from running on Android, most likely be a QWERTY phone (so that knocks of the iPhone from the options, I guess).

of writing and books

In all honesty there are always instances when something happens or I see something or feel or touch something and I knew it was worth writing about in this here blog ... but something else comes up and I get side-tracked and lose the moment. When I finally get the time to open Blogger, log-in, and hit "New Post", what I wanted to write about earlier doesn't feel exciting anymore.

I do not want writing, especially my personal and creative writing, to be a chore.

I want to write because I want to and desire to and have the enthusiasm for it but not to write because I know I have to. Because then writing becomes a chore and everyone I believe at one point or another in their lifetime has surely hated chores (I know do, until now :P). It becomes work and I am doing a lot of that already at the Desk on almost a daily basis, thank you.

I envy those who can write anytime or anywhere, who have the ability to mentally shut off all things and people around them and just write.

J.K. Rowling wrote parts of the first book of what would soon be the phenomenal Harry Potter series in a coffee shop. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about elves, dwarves, men, and orcs, and their stories in the midst of war serving as a soldier during World War I. L. Ron Hubbard was under financial stress and pressure when churned out story after story early in his writing career. Locally, Dean Alfar finds time to write down spec-fic while juggling his many roles as a businessman, boss, franchisee, and editor while bi-focal problems have not stopped the irrepressible Charles Tan from writing his daily spec-fic blog. Sir Butch Dalisay still make sense in his regular column pieces and comes up with creatively-driven commercial writing despite the apparent distractions of techno-gadgets, old typewriters, eBay, travels every now and then, a continued stint as a professor in Peyups, and, oh yes, his now famous collection of fountain pens.

I still have a long way to go to be able to do what they do and what they can do. But I know I am not getting any younger. I need to start doing that now.

Looking back on the course of my 30 odd years, I honestly think my creativity strikes right after the midnight bell tolls. Just when the aswangs and the multos have supposedly began their hauntings, that is when I believe I am at my most creative. In my younger years, I was creative -- churning out personally-published comics (drawn on bond paper, inked using a Pilot black ballpen), wrote songs, came up with love letters fit for an episode of "Young Love, Sweet Love" or MMK, developed fantasy lands for envisioned SF&F books and games.

These creative pursuits were stilled in college with a need to devote more time to studies, term papers, girls, and the rock band. The time for creatives eventually went from stilled to nil when I entered the workforce as a bright-eyed, still wet-in-the-ears new graduate.

But then I entered marketing and creativity took a bit of a new meaning for me and I found out I was rather good with that type of creativity.

I, however, still yearn for that old creativity -- the one that did not come with a 15-30 pay check or the 9-6 work hours.

I always yarn and yak in this blog about finding the time to write but I think, after getting hit in the eye a gazillion times by all those articles I have read on the subject, it is actually not finding the time that matters really but managing the time to write.

And I am guilty of using up time (and many instances, wasting it as well) better used for developing and honing my craft. Rather than double-clicking the Burger Rush game icon or happily scrolling away looking at how my Facebook friends are doing, I could have been writing down 500 words or so. I think the word discipline also comes into mind when you talk about managing the time to write.

Distractions too play a role. I think it was Jay Lake who mentioned never having had watched TV for quite some time now and not having pressed a gaming button for eons and those simple yet earth-changing decisions have merited him success in the spec-fic scene. While I have yet to let go of TV and video games, I will need to draw the line somewhere if I am ever to finish that book someday.

* * * *

Speaking of books, I have just finished James A. Owen's Here There Be Dragons, the first book in his The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. I have to say I have loved it! This makes Mr. Owen probably the third YA writer I like after the enduring Brian Jacques whose Redwall series never failed to charm and Mr. Rockstar himself, Neil Gaiman, for his magnificent work, The Graveyard Book (a book I hope my daughters will one day read as well -- when they are able).

I have piled up on books actually in preparation for the Christmas break, which with four days of mandatory leaves and a looming paternity leave will mean a two-week vacation for me starting on 21st.

Yes, I still have many left-over books on the to-be-read pile but just to be on the safe side, I have piled on a few more books including an anthology featuring retellings of Jules Vernes' stories and two prequel Dune books. I will be hitting the bookstores soon enough so before the year is out I will surely be piling more and more books on that to-read list.

Dang, I just remembered I needed a bookcase!

friday frolicks: ad congress, globe diss, starbucks, spec-fic news, ikai, isa, psp

Globe has got some serious issues when it comes to fulfilling its promises to its consumers.

After promising to yours truly that the landline and internet connection would be back by November 1, guess what? Still no connection until now. Why am I not surprised.

Their most recent excuse after I visited their Greenbelt business center earlier this week -- their field contractors have revised their earlier deadlines and now our area is set to be serviced on or before the second week of November.

Egad!!! Doesn't the use of "on or before" entail a definite date and not a vague period of time such as "second week"?

My innards were screaming for blood and I wanted to turn the CSA's own innards inside out but I controlled my temper and left the counter without another word. No use in saying thank you, thanks or gracias (although that's impolite, mind you) because I did not receive the expected assistance that had me wait 30 minutes for my number to be called in the first place.

Hay, ang buhay consumer nga naman.

* * * *

And since I've not been blogging or surfing at home for the longest time I've turned my attention to other stuff.

I'm currently in the midst of the winter season in Innocent Life, a PSP game that touts itself as a "futuristic Harvest Moon". For those already scratching their heads and asking what the heck Harvest Moon is, well, it's a game, actually, a series of games released initially for SNES (1996 first release) and subsequently in other consoles such as GameBoy, GBA, PS 1 and 2, Nintendo DS, etc. It's a series of farming simulation games whereby you inherit a farm, grow crops, tend livestock, and a gazillion other tasks including being friendly with neighbors.

Innocent Life is pretty much the same as the earlier Harvest Moon games but flash-forwarded a gazillion years to the future where farming tasks can be automated.

It's not exactly an exciting or engaging game (personally, the Harvest Moon game I played before was more exciting and fulfilling) but since I'm a sucker for RPG simulation games, I'm sticking to it and hoping to finish the main pivotal task (appeasing the Fire Spirit via the Water Spirit thereby preventing the explosion of the volcano that will surely and likely destroy the town where my creator (you play a robot trying to be human) and the friends I will get to know live) within a year and not withing the allowable two years.

The problem with the game is that there tends to be dragging moments when you find yourself with nothing to do -- especially at the start of the seasons when you just finished planting your seedlings for that season. And, the game starts to become boringly predictable and that you can't "speed" up the movement of events because the important events that trigger the chain reaction of events is so time-bound. Like right now, I am just waiting for the 24th day of winter for the next main event to happen even though I've completed the prerequisite tasks for it before autumn ended.

At least in the Harvest Moon I played (Friends of Mineral Town played on PC via emulator), I seemed to have not enough time during the day to do tasks and build up my character. It was exciting but also stressful, in fact. Innocent Life is, let's just say, less stressful and at times, ah, I just plod on until the next main event.

But since there's really nothing better to do during my free times at home, I'm sticking with this PSP game for now.

* * *

What I haven't been doing though during this "downtime" of mine from blogging and surfing is reading.

I've been amassing books and graphic novels and magazines but I haven't been reading them. They're all in the book pile, some with their wrappings still intact. Still waiting to be opened include all the stuff I bought at Komikon along with Martial Law Babies as well as a couple of issues of Entrepreneur Philippines and tons of books. The book I got last week, Firebirds Rising is the latest victim unfortunately.

And there are many books in the pile that remain on the "unfinished-reads" list. I'm guilty of leaving a book I'm reading unfinished and owe much apology to the likes of JRR Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, Terry Pratchett, among others, for letting their works collect dust while I fiddle and diddle and take up another reading material (or the PSP nowadays) and promise to get back to finishing the erstwhile books "one of these days".

* * *

And have I told everyone that Elvie and I are expecting a girl?

She's going to be a Christmas baby (give or take two weeks) and as such, we'll be christening her Risa Kristine. Her aka will Isa (pronounced EE-ZAH and not the Filipino I-SA).

Ikai, our eldest, has now taken to pertaining to herself in the third person as "Ate Ikai". And that's a good sign for us because it's an indicator that she is now prepared mentally and emotionally for the coming of her baby sibling.

Elvie and I are quite excited with the coming of Isa and more comfortable now than before when we were expecting Ikai. That's because, financially, we're secure and emotionally, we know now what to expect. We're just hoping that it's going to be an easy labor (Elaine, how do you do it?) because it seems like this one's going to be a bigger baby to birth than Ikai was three years ago.

* * *

And speaking of Ikai, she's turning three this month on November 18.

We'll be having a small celebration with a few family and friends and Ikai will be hosting a smallish children's party for the neighborhood kids (roughly about 6-10 kids).

Our little baby is growing and she has become quite the talkative type. Her mouth never seems to close and when she's not talking, she would be singing instead and can repeat the songs and dialogues of almost every commercial on the tube.

Here's here photo when she and her cousin, Mark, went trick-or-treating last October 30 at Elvie's office.

You can check out other photos at her own blog where I've uploaded them.

* * * *

Over on the speculative side ...

Jeff VanderMeer is currently on a suicide mission, este, book tour to promote his new books Finch and Booklife in 14 states for 27 events covering 36 days. So, his blog will be hi-jacked by a slew of guest-bloggers, playing mouse while the be-whiskered cat is away. Enjoy a change of tone for a wee bit until the VanderMeer gets back zombified from his book tour.

Congratulations are in order to Charles Tan, the Bibliophile Stalker, for winning the Last Drink Bird Head Award for International Activism for "his efforts to bring writers from other literary traditions and countries to the attention of readers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia" as well as to Kenneth Yu of Philippine Genre Stories for winning Fantasy Magazine's flash-fiction-and-graphic contest.

Filipino horror writers you are summoned!!! Estranghero Press's Joey Nacino and horror-guru Karl "M.F." de Mesa are calling for submissions to a new online horror anthology they've entitled "Demons of the New Year: Horror from the Philippines". Guidelines here. Deadline is January 15, 2010 with a target publication at the end of the same month.

Two Filipino authors are included in the latest issue of Expanded Horizons -- Eliza Victoria with her story "I Am the City" and Catherine Batac Walder's "Twin Cities". I've yet to read them but you can check them out in this fine SF webzine. You can even download PDF versions, mind you, if you prefer to read it traditionally. Plus, EH is also now accepting art submission! Check it out.

Rocket Kapre has announced that we only need to sleep five more nights before the launch of its planned quarterly SF webzine, USOK. Paolo Chikiamco promises for USOK's inaugural launch -- five short stories, two quality reprints, three all-new tales -- all for FREE on November 11.

* * *

Anyone going to the Ad Congress later this month?

I won't but a couple of colleagues are and despite the disappointment that it's being moved from Baguio to Subic for all-too-obvious reasons, it looks like it's going to be a great event.

I will most likely be attending next year's event as the Desk where I am now working is quite open to such activities for the development of its workforce. The participation fee is a bit on the expensive side as it costs around P16K per attendee (EXCLUDING hotel, transpo and other expenses which you (or your company) will shoulder) and of course, you will need to bring your own pocket money for those unofficial expenses (the tons of pasalubongs come to mind).

The Direct Marketing Forum organized by DMAP and Salt and Light Ventures seems to have gone unnoticed this year. Have they held it earlier in the year? This is another marketing forum that I would like to attend next year if they hold it again. I've attended the first three that DMAP and SLV did and the learnings from those conferences have helped me in my career as a marketer. I am now a firm believer in direct marketing -- marketing that really works because they elicit a response from the consumer.

I will also look forward to the next Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) events as I am also a practitioner of digital marketing having been an online marketer for the past five years (before my recent incarnation as a brick-and-mortar marketer in the Desk) so I'll be keeping my calendar open for that.

* * *

Speaking of calendars ... I am NOT going to be bitten by Starbucks' Christmas planner promo again. Case in point, the planner I redeemed after consuming P2,000+ worth of Starbucks last year (not helping the D, of course) went to waste neither my wife nor I used it. I already saw SB starting to advertise its Christmas offerings and I'm steering clear of any SB branch for the meantime :)