treaty trick over at bo's this halloween

Now, for some coffee-related promo ...

Our friends over at Bo's Coffee are serving up a treat of a trick for you Halloweeners! From October 22 until November 5, every single receipt P250 at Bo's will entitle you to a complimentary spooky cookie for free!

monday mumblings: iloilo trip -- batchoy, brian, and coffee; comics on the reading list

I've not been reading any books of late because I've been rather hooked to reading (backtracking) on the events in DC comics. Right now I'm working on getting through the pre-Infinite Crisis series of books. As can be seen on the right side of this blog, I'm currently reading The Return of Donna Troy, one of the books that tie-in to the whole Infinite Crisis and after this 4-issuer, I'll get on to Villains United before I finally read Infinite Crisis proper and the ensuing 52 (and 52 Aftermath).

When I'm done with 52, I'll be proceeding to Final Crisis.


The unfortunate victim of my sudden turnaround to comics is A Game of Thrones which continues to be unread despite having traveled with me to Iloilo and Roxas City last week.

* * * *

Desk-work brought me back to Iloilo City last Wednesday.

My last visit to the place was I think late 2004 when I went there with the then RP National Basketball team coached by Boycie Zamar and bankrolled by Cebuana Lhuillier, my former desk. We were in Iloilo for the "Try-Outs ng Bayan" along with then the young national players of which I remember only Dennis Madrid, Celino Cruz, Marc Pingris, and Cyrus Baguio.

Last week, work again found me in Iloilo albeit for a quick stay (unlike the 2004 stay which was, if I remember correctly, 5 days). I had to visit our Iloilo branch and see what improvements can be done on the marketing-advertising side. I planed into the city on the noon-time PAL flight and was at the branch by 2:30pm. After an hour and a half and a dozen or so photos of the branch, I then had to kill time before meeting up with my pal, Brian, later that evening.

So, I undertook a mission I had promised to do -- sample the local coffee shops.

I was aiming to sample at least a couple of coffee shops but due to time constraint and the fact that the night plans changed abruptly, I was only able to check out Coffeebreak.

Near the Desk's branch was a branch of Coffeebreak which I promptly went to for a late lunch (I had just realized that I hadn't had a proper lunch as the flight was right smack in the middle of lunch-time).

Hazelnut coffee with passion "brownie"

I ordered their brew-of-the-week which was Hazelnut and also ordered a pastry which CB called Passion.

Passion is a moist choco-cake slice that is more brownie than cake with a choco-layer in between and almonds (or were those walnuts?) on top.

I'm not much a connoisseur of coffee but the CB brew was quite good and brownie was filling. Since I only had enough room for one coffee-type, I didn't have the chance to sample their iced or frapp coffee versions. Next time probably.

Aside from the great coffee and brownie was the free wi-fi at CB. 

Access to wi-fi granted!

I finally got the chance to test out the wi-fi capabilities of the PSP I brought along and after finally getting it configured, I simply asked the barista for wi-fi access and in minutes I was happily surfing away.

Using the PSP to connect to the internet shows one that not all websites have been configured to work on all mobile devices. Maybe the sites would work well on most tablets and smartphones but websites like Yahoo and even this blog did not display properly on the PSP screen. I could not even access the CMS of Blogger.com which made on-site blogging impossible. Fortunately, the mobile website versions of Twitter and FB worked well. Maybe I just need to install another internet OS on the PSP or upgrade it.

Just like any other coffeeshop, Coffeebreak's counter was easy to understand although they were more colorful than your usual green, brown, mocha variant shops.

Aside from passion, there were a lot other pastries and sweet stuff to chose from. Unfortunately, I wasn't there for a sugar-load. The other delicacies will just have to be tested on another occasion.

* * * *

It's always good to see Brian. 

Brian relocated to Iloilo several years back, got married, had kids, and has settled in his home province for good. So, it's quite seldom that we see each other, the last time being on the sad occasion of our friend's death.

Despite my trip to Iloilo being just a one-nighter, I still checked up on him and we agreed to meet later in the evening. He picked me up from my hotel around 9:30pm.

Deciding that coffee was the last thing on his mind that evening, we went instead to a small watering hole just off Loney Bridge (I think) for two bottles. While the videoke was blaring with tunes sung by the other patrons of the bar, we talked about life, careers, future plans, diabetes cares, and other stuff including reminiscing old times. 

After the two bottles and a song each, Brian proceeded to give me a tour of the city. I was surprised that at before 11pm, Iloilo was already relatively quiet, not unlike Cebu which at midnight was still roaring with life.

See you on my next vist, bro.

* * * *

The next day, I got up early, had breakfast at the hotel's resto, packed up my stuff and headed to the bus station for the trip to Roxas City which I'll chronicle on a next post.

* * * *

Everyone knows that Iloilo is famous for La Paz Batchoy. And when it comes to batchoy, the name Ted's easily comes to mind.

Deco's La Paz Batchoy

So, I evaded Ted's even though it was just around the corner and instead tried the La Paz batchoy at Deco's.

I ordered their special which promised a whole lot of extra stuff that would turn-off my doctor. This was dinner, some 30 minutes after I just had my mid-PM/late lunch at Coffeebreak. 

Along with the batchoy, I ordered four pieces of pre-war pandesal. The digit-sized pandesals were more interesting than the batchoy, sadly. These pandesals were bite-sized and were packed. You could use them as pamato if they were flatter. Despite their diminutive size, they were surprisingly filling. And they were baked well -- firm, packed, solid, yet easy to munch on. More like soft biscuits only thicker.

Going back to the batchoy ...

If my tastebuds remain accurate, the batchoy at Ted's was tastier. Although both stores used the same ingredients and are cooked the same, it all boils down to the sabaw or the broth. Ted's sabaw was the more superior one IMHO.

musings on dc's new 52 reboot

Today, August 31, DC Comics, that big comic company over the other side of the globe, jumpstarts its entire product line with the release of Justice League #1.

JL#1 will just be the tip of the iceberg as DC has cancelled all its product line and will be relaunching 51 other comics in a bid to make comics relevant to the current market whose interests, I suspect, are more attuned with stuff like computers, handheld gaming consoles, iPads and iPhones, mobile phones, and a social networking site called Facebook.

I haven't had time to delve into what-has-really-been-happening-that-has-led-to-DC-relaunching-everything but I feel that it has to do with not being able to capture a new audience. I understand sales of comics has slipped a notch or two and it has been fighting a losing battle for readership with more immersive media. And then there's also the possibility that new readers are not getting into comics because they feel there's so much history to backtrack that they'd rather take on something else.

Marvel Comics, if I understand correctly, tried to counter this with their "Ultimate" series and as far as I've read online, they've succeeded in getting new readers interested.

DC has taken the bolder step, IMHO, and decided to drop everything and instead relaunch its titles in what it hypes as the "New 52", starting with what is supposedly the flagship title -- Justice League.

From what available teasers and materials I've seen so far, JL#1 seems to be a re-telling of how the Justice League, composed of DC big-wigs Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and curiously, Cyborg, got assembled. It's going to be the same for several of the 51 other DC titles that'll be launched this September. There are however some titles that'll be somewhat continuations from their previous incarnations. And according to online sources including Wikipedia's entry on the DC reboot, much of the history and legacy of DC will remain intact such that storylines such as Blackest Night, Brightest Day, and Batman: The Killing Joke are part of the continuity.

So, will this reboot fly? I certainly hope so for DC's sake. Much of DC's universe is so convoluted that it certainly needs a reboot. The past "Crises" stories didn't succeed in cleaning up the mess so an entire sweep, just like this reboot of its entire line, might just be the right stroke for DC. It will also allow new readers to come onboard. For fans like myself who have not paid that much attention to what has been going on, the reboot serves as an invitation to once again take a peek into what's "new".

Am I interested? Certainly. But I'm not about to go off and spend thousands of pesos on all 52 titles. A quick visit to the comics shop recently told me I have to spend some Php 150 - Php 200 on a new ish. More if the comic title was in demand. With those prices, a collected edition might be more practical (and that's the most likely path I'll be taking). But I'll certainly be keeping tabs on what people will say about the new 52 DC titles.

Of the 52 titles that have been PR'ed, the ones that have piqued my interest include:

Justice League - with powerhouse tandem of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee joining forces on the flagship title.

The Flash - with Francis Manapul writing and drawing, this might be interesting

Action Comics - will star a Superman from his early days as a super-powered do-gooder and what makes this series more interesting is that it will be written by comic book rockstar, Grant Morrison. I'm not so taken with Rags Morales' artwork but hopefully it'll be better than the work he has done on Identity Crisis.

Legion of Superheroes - with Paul Levitz back in the writer's helm of this series, it can get interesting. I've been a long-time Legion fan (even creating my own version of the Legion in the 90s) so this will be one series I will most likely follow ish-per-ish.

Stormwatch - I'm 50/50 on this although I'm picking this only because I always have an interest on anything Stormwatch. It will be interesting to see how this former Wildstorm title makes it in the DCU continuity -- and with no Weatherman at that!

Grifter - another former Wildstorm title taken into the DCU fold. How will anti-hero Cole Cash survive in a world inhabited by the likes of Supes and Bats? Makes for an interesting storyline, hopefully.

For more of the low-down on what will happen to the DC universe you've come to love, head on over to Tor.com where Tim Callahan breaks down each of the new 52 DC titles and dissects them complete with his reco to buy it or not. You may not like his recommendation (especially if you're a fanatic of a title or two, or three) but you'll get more insights before you decide to spend the pesos (or dollars or yen) on a title.

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.

the big red car

Today is "coding" for the big red car (as Ikai calls it). On normal coding days, the big red car doesn't move a budge from where it is parked (it often does not even move at all for days and days even!) but today it had to move before 7am because later today we have a walk (lakad) with the kids. And given the incredible (or incredulous) system of our public taxi transport, the big red car becomes a necessity.

So, after dropping off my wife at her office, the big red car went to its designated parking space (thank goodness for free parking!) where it will wait for the next ten hours or so for us to embark upon it and take us home.

* * * *

They say that the first ever car any new driver possesses will be the "practice" car -- the car that gets all the bumps and bruises as its driver learns and masters the deadly art of metropolitan driving.

The big red car is no exception, I guess, no matter how hard I try to be careful. But I am quite thankful that up until now (since I got the big red car last summer), it has received nothing more than two small bumps on the rear bumper.

The first bump is hardly discernible -- a slight bump of a concrete post along a street down Chrysanthemum Village in San Pedro, Laguna. I was backing, trying to maneuver my way out of a dead-end and very tight street (that I knew from first-hand biking experience in youth was not a dead-end) when I miscalculated the pedal and brake and very, very slight bumped the concrete post. My wife, who was acting as my back-up assistant swore she saw the rear bumper buckle when I hit the post but that it sprang back to shape when the big red car trudged a bit forward.

The second bump was a result of a parking miscue. I have yet to really master the suave art of parking and in this one instance when I was parking in my designated parking space I was trying to avoid three obstacles -- a Pajero on my left front, another SUV on my right front, and thirdly the circular building post on my rear right. As it was a tight squeeze, I was looking on my front and at the right side-mirror and was neglecting my left side-mirror when I suddenly heard a crunch (I was backing up inch by inch as I was trying to avoid hitting the sides of the SUVs) -- I had hit a building column on my left side.I nudged the big red car forward a bit, got down and to my my dismay -- scratches on the left bumper. Worse, the bump had misaligned the bumper a bit. Despite this, at least it's still a minor damage and didn't affect the vehicle in any way (and not really bothered as the front bumper were also a bit loose when the vehicle was first bought second-hand -- like it didn't fit properly, this assembly car being like one big jigsaw puzzle).

Despite these two incidents, I still don't like to think about the big red car as one "practice" car. It's going to stay with me and my family for the next five years so I really need to take good care of it.

It's the one and only so it's the only option I have.

* * * *

The big red car was not brand new when I got it.

It's a second-hand 2007 Innova J (manual transmission, gasoline-powered) that I got through the Desk's car plan for officers. I got it from an employee of a media outfit who sold it at a reasonable price because he had to avail of their company's car plan policy.

The big red car was well-kept and CASA-maintained but had the inevitable scratches and marks (more now than then since it's usually parked outside on the street subject to all forms of torture such as falling twigs and leafs, bird droppings, dust and dirt, mud (when it rains and water rises a bit), and kids). I'd like to make sure it retains its shiny coat though so it has to undergo detailing one of these days.

Since I got it, the only improvement I've made was to put an alarm system to it (for security as, like I said, it is parked outside) and a sign tacked at the back window that says "Kids Onboard". But someday, I do hope to add bells and whistles to it -- a DVD system probably, chrome accessories probably, buy a car cover for it, a better sound system with four speakers (it only has two, up front), and maybe accessorize it with a top rack. I've seen newer Innovas sporting custom-fenders and body sculpting but I'm ok with the big red car's body as it is.

Probably just fix up the bumpers a bit to make them fit snugly and new paint.

* * * *

So, now you probably know why I refer to it as the big red car. Ikai's point of comparison is her Lolo's car, a '97 Mazda 323 Familia converted (metallic gray, lowered, custom front and rear bumpers, spoiler, noisy noisy muffler) which she call's "Lolo's car yung gray".

The Mazda was my first "practice" car. When my folks went to the US for a vacation around March this year, I took home to Makati the Mazda to use it rather than allow the car to be "stuck-up" in Laguna and gather rust and corrosives. The car, not leaving the home, would also be a telltale sign that no one's home and both it and the house could be the target of akyat-bahays.

For about two months, I basically drove the Mazda -- practicing my newly-acquired driving skills with it. I got my first two traffic violation tickets with it. While it wasn't used everyday, I did manage to drive it to Los Baños, Laguna and in the process learn how to effectively stop-and-go on an incline; wheeled it around the Metro while I looked at potential Innovas I would be buying (ended up buying the big red car in Sampaloc), and experienced my first night-driving and night-driving-with-accompanying-storm with it.

So, it was with fond memories when I finally brought the Mazda back to its parking home in my folk's home's driveway where it patiently awaited its true driver.

* * * *

The first time that I ever drove the big red car was when I went to Libis to pick it up from the seller.

Of all the places, Libis was unfamiliar territory and it was a last minute call by the seller and rather than delay it, I went to the meeting place in Libis (McDo along C5) and was handed the keys and given the general tour of the vehicle.

Problem was I wasn't wearing the proper footwear. I was wearing a heeled pair and being a newbie driver, that posed problems (until now I prefer to use flat soled shoes for driving and when I drive to the office, I carry with me my office shoes). As I was driving out of the McDo parking onto C5, I immediately knew my footing would be a prob so I turned on the hazards and turtled my way through the traffic hoping to find the u-turn slot that'll take me back to Makati.

Second problem was that the configuration of an AUV is different from a typical sedan. I had to deal with the bigness of the Innova from the inside and having been used to the dimensions of the Mazda, the Innova's seemingly bigger and bulkier form was intimidating. Plus, the sitting orientation is different -- in a sedan, you tended to be laid back a bit while in the Innova, you were sitting up. Totally different environ that built up the panic a bit.

To top it all up, the gas meter showed that it was nearly empty! Nice one. I was in unfamiliar territory, driving an unfamiliar vehicle, and I had no idea where the nearest gas station was. Fortunately, enroute to the u-turn slot, I espied a gas station on the other side so I quickened the pace a bit (panicking I might end up pushing the Innova when it runs out of gas, or worse, getting it towed) and managed to reach the gas station and had the big red car filled up.

Then I ditched my shoes, turned on the radio for some AM talkies, and lowered the airconditioning. Then I drove home with nothing but my socks on and started enjoying the ride.

It was with a breathe of relief that I finally arrived an hour or so later (drove around 30-40kph and missed a flyover) and texted my wife that I'm just outside the gate.

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).

a little note on comics

Writing at 3AM on what is supposed to be the first workday of the week isn't a very good idea.

But what is a poor soul like me to do when insomnia attacks? I can already hear the roosters cackling and the only consolation for me at this wee hour is that it's raining and that means when I finally hit the sack a little (hopefully) later, I'll be sleeping soundly. Plus, the advent of rain at this hour also alleviates a bit the worry I've been having about Metro Manila not having enough water supply. I just hope that this rainy weather reaches Angat Dam, the main reservoir where Metro Manilans get their water supply.

But enough of talks of rain and water.

It's been an interesting first half of the month. And while has started to pile up, I find myself picking up an old habit -- comics. It's been ages since I've bought a DC comic and I just did recently -- purchasing the collected editions of Identity Crisis and Kingdom Come. Yes, I know, Identity happened somewhere in 2005 while KC happened before the millennium hit. But unfortunately, I was not into comics during those years. I guess you can brand me a late-bloomer and now have to play catch-up with what's happening in DCU (DC Universe ... sorry, am not much of a Marvel fan although my introduction to US superhero comics was Spiderman and Captain America, it's just that I find DC characters more interesting).

The latest in DCU is this Blackest Night event which I've heard of from the likes of comics-aficionado Joel Conato last year. I wasn't into still into comics when I bumped into him at Glorietta late last year -- I recently come from the voter's registration, and he coming from the Planet X which was celebrating and where he just purchased the latest comics issues relating to Blackest Night. By summer this year, Brightest Day will happen ... but I don't think my finances will allow me to splurge about P200 per issue. I'll be waiting for the softcover collected editions (TPBs) instead and probably purchase them next year when they will be priced much, much lower.

If I do get some dough to buy updated comics, I'll most likely be buying Flash comics which promises to be special with the return of Barry Allen to the red suit. Plus, Grant Morrison's storyline of Batman trying to get to the present tense by traversing time periods is equally promising (hopefully not a dud).

For now, I'll be availing of older cataclysmic events in DCU (and let's see, maybe a few Marvel event -- especially intrigued with their Civil War event and on a more elderly tone, the events that transpired with the mutant persecution in the X-Men titles). I've already made a list of TPBs I'll be buying and collecting such as Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis, plus I've always been curious about the Janus Directive storyline in Checkmate. There are also a lot of interesting arcs over at Green Lantern such as the Sinestro Corps War and the Green Arrow titles seem interesting.

A quick trip over to Fully Booked in Rockwell got me in the know that they have a much broader line of graphic novels and collected editions there than in Bibliarch or their Greenbelt branch. I guess, their Bonifacio High Street branch will yield even more. I've yet to purchase something from Planet X but for sure I'll be trooping there more frequently in the coming months.

I'm also in the mood (right now) to try and get back into drawing. The ulti-aim is to hopefully draw a comic again -- an outright paper comic or something on the web. But need to start practicing again and that means buying a sketch pad. Trying to get back into drawing is also another reason to troop to Planet X (or other comic shop) to buy comics drawn by artists whose artworks are just fantastic. In the early 90s, the works of Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio and Todd McFarlane blew me away. Nowadays, comic art drawn by Ethan Van Sciver, Phil Jimenez, and several younger artists look awesome. Certainly, inspiration for me to pick up the pencil and start drawing again.

Ah, more on comics in upcoming posts :)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 :)