career alternative
Posted at 10:47 AM

while i really enjoy my job, now and then i think about other things i would love to be doing. at the top of the list is... i would want to be a chef. actually, going to culinary school is something within my sphere of reality.

my other 2 career options, however, are not. if i won't teach and i can't be a chef, i'd like to be a basketball coach. not really for a big team - anything bigger than a high school varsity team would do.

next in line is race car driving. this, i understand, is completely out of the question because it is just too darned expensive to train. and i'm sure at my age my reflexes have slowed down. but man, this i would love to do.

right now, we have this service in which we bring in orders from the US. it's been fun so far. things are picking up and it's amazing to see the variety of things people ask for. 

it's such a big world out there. so many things to explore really.

wish i could do it from the driver's seat of a ferrari. hahaha 

in 20 peso bills
Posted at 08:24 AM

for the past month i've been saving hard. certainly not my usual mode, but it's been working

 have to get enough money together for a week in indochina - thailand and cambodia. the thailand leg is reasonable enough, what with all the tourist packages available... but cambodia is another story. doesn't exactly cost an arm and a leg - just an arm.

so to motivate savings i have  widget on my desktop that shows how much i have to save and how much more i have to go. when i meet my target, some bells will go off and virtual confetti will be showered. i can't wait!

my savings process has gotten to the point that if ever i have anything less than P100 in my wallet, i set it aside. so i go to the bank and make deposits in small change. i wonder what the tellers think.

whatever. still better than going to the travel agent with a plastic bag full of 20 peso bills.

waiting
Posted at 07:15 PM

i'm killing time in a cool place. cool getting to cold to be more accurate. i'm at some internet cafe in the ortigas area. i've done all the work i can do online and i still have time to kill.

you'd think this would be a good time for me to just sit and compose or something like that. you know, write something of substance. but nooooo...

like an itch that won't go away
Posted at 10:32 AM

i need to write this. i need to get it out of my system.

(dialogue)

person a: i'm annoyed.

person b: what's a noid?

there! whew! finally...

hey, i never said it was anything deep right? 

ave caesar!
Posted at 07:59 AM

I am Caesar of Rome.

In the game Civilization III I am at the beginning of Western Civilization beside Egypt and Greece trying to build my territory. I am given, for starters, the warrior code and the alphabet. At the start I can produce workers who can produce roads, mines... warriors who will defend and conquer, and settlers to colonize.

It is interesting to see how this game is premised.

When there is civil unrest in any of my cities I can choose different ways to make them happy: build a temple or even better, make some of the citizens entertainers. I want to give them rock music but that is still thousands of years in the future.

My own value system is clear. When my scientific advisers ask me what to research, I want to say writing even though I am aware that the wheel might come in handy.

For this game I have adopted a stance of non-aggression. I will expand into unoccupied territory and build an army to defend, not attack. So far it is working - Corinth has pledged allegiance to me even without me trying.

I wonder how George W Bush would play.

the survey of threes
Posted at 09:52 AM

(tagged by dez, looked like fun karlo, eto rin ba yung sa 'yo? i was about to go rooting around your archives but then.. well, here it is hehe) 

Names you go by
1. April
2. Apes
3. Hoy!

3 screen names you have had
1. apester (yeah, i'm obviously creative with names)
2. anomalous fraggle
3. if i said cate blanchett would anyone believe me?

3 physical things you like about yourself
1. i'm not short. whew!
2. i am incapable of getting fat
3. hm. that's about it i think

3 physical things you don't like about yourself
1. tummy!!! sigh...
2. hips. they don't exist. either that or the tummy just overwhelms them
3. my nose is too big

3 parts of your heritage
1. Filipino
2. Chinese
3. and yeah

3 things that scare you
1. DOLLS *shudder*
2. ipis
3. madre - i kid you not

3 of your everyday essentials (3 C's)
1. Cellphone. ayoko man pero trabaho eh
2. Car. if not, a cab. ganun din hehe
3. Chiropractor. don't have one but sure need one

3 of your favorite musical artists
1. Cynthia Alexander
2. Annie Lennox
3. Does Andrew Lloyd Weber count? <- i hope so because he sure goes on my list

3 of your favorites <- dez, songs ba 'to? i'm just following your answers hahaha
1. No Umbrella by Cynthia
2. Lupang Hinirang
3. Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack

3 things you want in a relationship
1. Laughter. lots of it
2. Comfortable silences
3. and yeah, trust. can't have one without it

3 lies and truths in no particular order
Lies:
1. I graduated from the accounting program of UP
2. life is like a box of chocolates. sheesh.
3. washing your face right after using the computer will hurt your eyesight
Truths:
1. I got thrown out of two courses
2. Production work rocks!
3. You can eat skyflakes with anything

3 physical things about the opposite sex that appeal to you
1. Smile - you know, the twinkly kind
2. the way they stand. kinda hard to explain. watch aamir khan and you'll get the idea hehe
3. Defined body. I do not want a surfboard with nipples. <-- ooh man, what an image!

3 of your favorite hobbies
1. video games have made it back on the list
2. reading when i don't have to
3. and writing when i don't have to

3 things you want to do really badly now
1. be on my way to thailand
2. book my flight to italy
3. finish that *^%@$%& dissertation

3 careers you're considering/you've considered
1. chef!
2. race car driver. hey, we can dream right?
3. i actually considered a corporate job. hoowa. for about 5 minutes then it was gone haha

3 places you want to go on vacation
1. thailand and cambodia! NOOOWWWW
2. rome and salzburg! the hills are alliiiiiveeeee!!!!
3. baguio is always good

3 kid's names you like
1. Scooter (syempre paglaki hindi na)
2. Santiago (parang pang history book haha)
3. and for some reason i always liked the name Renata - count of monte cristo days

3 things you want to do before you die
1. travel the world
2. be able to write one decent poem
3. graduate, gaddamit

3 ways that you are stereotypically a boy
1. i drive like a bat out of hell sometimes and honk and swear to high heavens
2. i love watching basketball
3. "there's no crying in baseball!"

3 ways that you are stereotypically a girl
1. i can't kill bugs
2. i watched batman on opening day because christian bale was in it
3. i expect doors to be opened for me (does that make me a girl or a biyatch? haha)

3 celebrity crushes
1. hugh jackman.
2. jude law.
3. johnny depp. sigh...

3 people that i would like to see take this quiz
1. my killers! haha
2. My sister. <-- i agree. nakaka-miss minsan surveys ni joanna
3. any politician at random. at least they would've done something harmless

the worst internet card ever
Posted at 03:26 PM

the winner of the worst internet prepaid card ever award is...

surfmax!

for always disconnecting for no apparent reason. for being incredibly slow that the web pages just give up loading. and for overall unreliability, surfmax is hereby given the award for worst internet prepaid service ever.

given on this 22nd day of july, 2005 

eat like you mean it
Posted at 12:19 AM

for the longest time i've had a craving for a pastrami sandwich. not entirely sure why - i mean it's not like pastrami is something i grew up with and miss. nor is it one of the world's finer delicacies.

anyway. so i've been having this craving and now i realize just how rare pastrami sandwiches are in the restaurants of metro manila.

the first time i was overwhelmed by this and had to act on it, i ended up ordering a calzone in grappa's. the thing took up the entire plate and had mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and parma ham (as close as i could get to pastrami). it was gone in 10 minutes.

today i had the craving again. and so i had the cook fry 5 slices of plain old supermarket ham which i put in between heavily-mayonaissed bread (yep, all 5 slices). the thing must have weighed close to a pound. it was gone in 5 minutes in between forkfuls of pickle relish.

not bad... but i still want a pastrami sandwich. 

goodbye prepaid
Posted at 11:23 AM

and here's the first entry with piglet finally on broadband. wheee!!!!

kicking in at 5 times dial-up speed 24 hours a day all while keeping my phone line free.

thank goodness!