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Jul 12, '09 10:41 PM
for everyone |
I just came from Talisayin, Zambales this weekend with some officemates and a friend and his officemates.
We were supposed to also go to 3 other places--Anawangin, Capones, Nagsasa--but the waves wouldn't let us. This trip wasn't a let-down, though.
Wait for my uber OC journal-blog on this. :) Time to get some rest. Sunburnt skin with alcohol rashes doesn't feel too good. Lol. | comments: your own product of mental exercise?   |
| Today, I was a victim.
I was a victim of a good deed. When I was getting off the jeep to get on the MRT, some guy tapped my shoulder and said, "Boss, eto."
He was holding my cellphone, giving it back to me. Apparently, it slipped out of my slacks' pockets, unto the jeep's bench. I was shocked that I was careless enough to let it happen to me. In shock, all I could say was, "Salamat, maraming salamat." Even the guy next to him said, "Swerte, buti mabait yun." In shock, I told Allen what happened.
While still pretty much shocked at how easily I could have lost my phone this noontime, I was thinking if I should have repaid the very honest guy. But I didn't know how. Then I saw him going up to Buendia MRT. Same place I was headed with Allen. We were headed to the seminar in Edsa Shang hotel.
As I went up to the station, I was determined to show appreciation to the guy, in a way other than verbal thanks. It was my cellphone that he returned. My freaking phone. Then I saw him in line, buying a ticket. This was my cue. I tapped his shoulder and said, "Eto, may extra akong card, sayo na lang. Maraming salamat ulit."
He said thanks and caught up with me in the line. We ended up talking a bit throughout our train ride-- because I found out he was also headed to Shangri-la Mall to his work; he just brought his wife to work in Makati, then was on his way to the Shang for his time in.
And just as I was really grateful for his returning my phone, he seemed to be very thankful about the card, too. He probably wasn't expecting anything in return? Anyway, after parting ways, he sent a text and said thanks for the card.
It doesn't hurt to widen your networks--not just corporate networks, but people networks. It pays to be nice. I'm sure karma will reward that guy well soon, if it didn't already.
Today, I was a victim--of kindness, and I'm very thankful that I was. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| May 10, 2009, 11:09 pm.
On May 10, 2009, Mother's Day, Gluttony was born.
It all began when I was terribly starving at 3 am. After eating something finally falling asleep, I found myself quite hungry once more, at 9:30 am. I cooked some bacon and ate about 5 strips. But I thought that wasn't enough. After deciding that I wanted McDonald's for breakfast, I called and ordered. A lot.
Big Breakfast - mom
Sausage McMuffin w/ Egg and Extra Hash Brown - brother
Sausage McMuffin w/ Egg and Extra Hash Brown - me
Hotcakes and Sausage - me
Extra Hash Brown - anyone
I ate 3/4 of the Hotcakes and Sausage, finished the Hash Brown and took a bite from my sandwich. And I drank the Hot Chocolate and Orange Juice that came with my meals.
Two hours later, I found myself ordering at Annabel Lee in Promenade. I ordered:
Mozzarella and Mushroom Pita Pizza - sharing
Gourmet Quesadilla - sharing
French Onion Soup - me
Because my mom wanted to eat in Conti's (for the first time--we haven't eaten there yet), we decided to go there for dinner. I was semi-full at this time; I ate half my Sausage McMuffin with egg an hour before going for dinner. Thank goodness it took around 5 minutes for us to get a table, and 15 minutes before our order arrived. We got:
Russian Potato Salad
Symphony Salad (solo serving)
Baked NZ Mussels
American Burger - mom
Baked Salmon - dad
Beef Teppanyaki - brother
Tofu Steak - me
We shared the yummy meal and frequently exchanged food. Conti's isn't overrated.
Despite the heavy dinner, we wanted cakes! CAKES! We got:
Sugar free Apple Pie - dad
Banana-something pie - mom
Walnut Cake a la mode - brother
Strawberry Cheesecake.
All food and no pictures? Well, that's why I'm Gluttony. I wouldn't be much of a glutton if I even had it in my mind to stop and take a vew pics. :P
I have a few pics. To follow na lang. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Looks like Multiply's Cross-posting is screwed.
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May 7, 2009, 2:02 am.
Just to reiterate why trying is truly a waste of time and effort.
Yesterday, there was a request to test something at work. Ideally the deadline was the same day. My officemate in charge of it wasn't around, so I decided to just try my hand and do it myself. I created the test scenarios and even tapped my two other teammates to help me out. It took me until around 11 pm last night to finish my share. I still had to compile my two other officemates' test results and then analyze the data. After one work day, the job wasn't done.
Well, it took me the whole day today, till 10:00 pm, to compile, format and analyze the data. I thought I was almost done, but I saw many issues with the file and the data. I couldn't think of why the data just seemed to deviate at some points. After much fiddling with excel formulas, teammates' test plans, and endless percentages, I was able think of how it was possible that we had erroneous data. After two work days, the job still wasn't done.
So, after two days of trying, I'm still not done. I'm looking to finish it tomorrow, before we go on our outing. We run the danger of having to repeat all the tests we did because of my assumed flaw in the testing (yet to be confirmed). Sucks to be me! Lol.
I took the job because I wanted it done ASAP, and I didn't know when my officemate who was in charge of it would show up to do it. Unfortunately, trying really is a waste of effort. I tried to do it, and it's already two days late but still incomplete and inconclusive. It'll probably be the same thing if my officemate showed up tomorrow to do it himself. The Brand Manager who needed it still is waiting on us. Lol. All that effort, no result.
I could've allotted two days to other work which I could have accomplished within the same day.
How do you deal with employees who bite off more than they can chew? | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| There are just some people in the world that you know are a good match for you. They're the people that will make you feel comfortable even if you're just being your goofy self.
And they're the type that will know how to push your buttons the right way, indicating when it's time for you to change for the better. The ones who can be frank with you and elicit the least amount of resistance despite the abrasive statements. They're the ones who can really help catalyze change and support you while you're changing for the better.
I'm not sure if it's them, or if it's you, or if it's just the combination, but you'll really know if the person you're hanging out with is that type of person.
I'm glad I know quite a handful of people like that.
However, these people are only icing on the cake. They make you feel good if you actually feel good. Lemme rephrase. They make you feel better, by reflecting and radiating that positivism that you emit.
It's a lot of fun when you hang out with people like those. And I did tonight. Glad I was able to see Jamie even if for a while. Strangely enough, that short hour seemed to be like a whole night. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| 
My Friday Night
After that serendipitous Friday night, I couldn't get myself to fall asleep. I got off the PC at 4:30 am and decided I should do my bathroom rituals. At around 5:00 am, I did some chores around the house. When I finally finished at 5:30, I decided I should go up to the penthouse and see the sky fully for a change.
Well, I took some photos of the semi-dawn sky on my phone (that explains the quality). I didn't really get to see a nice color, maybe my timing was wrong, and the sky was just too cloudy that Saturday morning.
Either way, it was nice to look at something different before going to bed.
IT was nice to see the city still asleep. Barely any cars moving, people making noise. And I enjoyed the cool morning breeze.
Eventually, I had to turn in. So, after 30 minutes, I went back to the house to lay down on my bed, trying to sleep as the sun rose up. | | comments: 2 succesful products of mental exercise or your own product of mental exercise? |
| (Manually posting because cross-posting failed.)
I pretty much had my Friday night planned. I was going to go home from work, and be home to rest and play. But I didn't. It pays to be free, to have some slight moments of irresponsibility.
Popoy asked me to join him to dinner with his officemate, to 1) be his support crew or 2) to save him in case she flaked out on him (again). I initially declined, of course, because I wouldn't want to be out of place. But when he gave me the savior argument my good friend instincts kicked in. I'd be guilty if I left him alone there, even if it meant that I had no actual, solid plans for the night and even if it meant that there was a chance I'd be going home alone at a moment's notice. Despite that, I decided to go to Glorietta/Greenbelt anyway.
Luckily, my officemate, Mel, was also going to Greenbelt to meet up with her friends. Since one of her friends was my blockmate, I said we could go to Greenbelt together. We hitched a ride with Aiza (Thanks Aiza!) who was also meeting up with some friends in Amici (and was running late). So when I finally got to meet up with Joyce again, that's when Popoy texted me to say that she didn't flake out on him and it'd be fine if I didn't go.
Despite the courteous invitations from Joyce and Mel, I politely declined and just decided to go home. As I was walking through Landmark, I saw two people I was thinking and hoping I'd meet serendipitously--Jamie and Dave! They're not just two people. They're Jamie! And Dave! I haven't seen them for.. over a year! After a short talk, we said our goodbyes and did our own thing.
I couldn't help but smile the whole time I was walking from Landmark to Glorietta to the MRT. Things turned out great; not just for me, but for my friends. Popoy's officemate didn't flake out, Joyce and Mel were with their friends, Aiza got to meet up with her friends and Jamie's in the Philippines, and more importantly, back with Dave! ;-)
There seemed to be so many things happening around me at the time, and I was happy at how they seemed to resolve themselves. This was when the reality of the vastness of the world hit me again. It was a very uplifting moment.
Have you tried thinking about what each of your friends and acquaintances are doing? How they're probably in that same mall or walking along that same road, or riding in that same train, talking with their own friends or doing their own thing, and you don't even know they're there? It's so amazing to think of how many other living beings (not just humans) are living every minute.
If you think about it, the world is such a synchronized place. With each footstep, an ant dies, a tree breathes, a pen releases ink, a cloud forms. With each breath, a door closes, a wind blows, a cigarette butt hits the ground. Can you imagine the music that would come out of all those synchronized actions? If only we could hear them all happening.
I don't know, this seriously got my spirits up tonight. I didn't want to go home at first, I planned to take a walk in Shang, Galle and Greenhills, in the hopes of meeting more friends serendipitously. But I was hungry and I wanted to save money, so I went home to have free food. Yay.
I wonder, as I type this, how many bottles of beer are being consumed?
P.S.
I also learned two things yesterday:
1) From me: Life is great, and there is much to laugh about. Nothing beats laughter. Anything can be laughed about--happy stuff, ironic stuff, irritating stuff, and it'll only make you feel better.
2) From Quing: Smile till you feel it. He said this to another boss in the office who was working hard as we were going down the elevator. Pretty neat!
Now I ask you what I asked people on my Plurk: I love my life. Do you love yours? | | comments: 2 succesful products of mental exercise or your own product of mental exercise? |
| I followed Carlo's advice and talked to my boss, Quing, today. Basically he said, "Most employees forget that their bosses aren't psychic."
Well, I simply let my boss know that after a year in Level Up!, I'm thinking of how my career will improve, because I said I couldn't do this job forever. We went on to talk about what other opportunities are there, as I discussed what I was interested in.
I mentioned my goals: 1) that I wanted to manage people, 2) that I was interested in Operations Management, as well (as pointed out by another friend who said I was probably competent enough for that stuff), dealing with processes and looking for ways in being more efficient. I mentioned these despite knowing that I still have much to learn. Gotta be confident, and show interest to be able to open yourself up to learning anyway, right?
I mentioned that I wasn't looking to go deeper into gaming, as I really wanted to gain skills that would be applicable everywhere. I'm not sure I should've mentioned this right away, but I'm glad to have gotten this off my chest.
He mentioned that right now, there is no position for what I really wanted, unless the uppers would decide to create one. For now, he said that I could pass for an Assistant Brand Manager, or maybe eventually be a Product Manager among others. I appreciate the vote of confidence from him. :) But honestly, I'm not sure if those are really what I want.
Well, eventually our talk came to an end and he thanked me for letting him know about my issues, just as I thanked him for acknowledging my concerns and for giving me suggestions.
Later on in the day, I went with Jed, my direct boss, to GH. We had a pretty long bonding session, from 6 pm to 10:30 pm? I'd have to say that he's quite a close friend now, aside from a boss. Our conversations ranged from friends to religious beliefs to workmates to gaming to relationships to family and to work. I was pretty surprised to know that his current view on gaming and our job is actually almost similar to mine. I told him that maybe with reduced gaming, he could really focus more into his seemingly bigger passion--art. Not only does he mention it a lot, I really feel the passion he has for it. He's good, and with more dedication to it, he can probably land jobs that actually make use of his talent. Well, as a friend I hope he doesn't forget my comments.
Later on during our long and filling meal (Pasto still wins!), I told him what happened during the talk with our boss, Quing. I'm glad we also got to talk about it, albeit informally. Because he's a closer friend to me, I was also able to bring up that the lack of compensation is really a big issue for me, and that I wasn't able to bring it up with Quing. Thankfully he said he'd help me out there.
Because he's also learning to be a good manager himself, we sometimes exchange ideas and we end up learning from each other. Additionally, I learned that Quing has been wanting him to take Management Seminars. I mentioned to him that I'd like to attend them too, if the other Senior GPS don't want to attend (which is almost 100% sure, even he acknowledged the fact). I mentioned these words: "I'm not afraid to step-up, because no one else is. Sayang eh." He said I should mention it to our boss, and I most definitely will, next week. I hope Quing allows me to join Jed in those seminars; I'm really excited to attend. I really want to acquire new skillsets that I think I could use for my career-building. Those would really help me build up my career, my confidence and of course, my resume.
I guess for now I should work for a promotion while acquiring skillsets that will allow me to achieve my goal.
Despite all the career issues, the bonding night was a really welcome way to start the long weekend. Long and sensible conversations like those are always welcome. More so when it's with a friend/workmate/boss.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Reality bites. Hard.
I know I recently blogged about my career path and choices and what I plan to do, but today really hit me. Can one mature overnight? Suddenly I'm thinking about so many stuff related to this. Seeing how much my payslip contained really hit me hard. And it isn't helping that I feel like I'm outgrowing the job, the industry and the products.
The gaming industry is really toxic. One game developer once said something like:
"In the gaming industry, you are underpaid compared to your colleagues in other industries, you have longer hours, you are underappreciated, and others think your job is a joke. But it's fun."
It's 100% true, I cannot agree more. But in my case, the "fun" part is disappearing. The passion for games that is the core requirement of being in the gaming industry is burning out in me. I don't even want to play OUR games anymore. Heck, I can't even get myself to play most games out there anymore. Yes, I can still appreciate games and say that they're nice, but I don't really want to play them. How will I fulfill my job as a Gameplay Specialist if the passion is burning out?
I'm thankful that I have a job, but unfortunately, I'm not thankful that I don't have a career path. I remember mentioning to someone that at our age, we should be building our career, so that later on, we can bank on that career and work for the money. The reality of the situation is I have no career to build in my current job.
How does one deal with reality? I've thought of different ways to answer this, and here's what I think. Some would probably say, master it, take it by the reins and make it go your way. Others would go, deal with it. Accept it and live with it. I prefer to look at it another way. Reality is like water. Navigate it, go with the flow, at the same time, know when to steer it to go your way.
Allow me to illustrate. Let's say in this example, I earn Php 8,000 net a month and I'm terribly unhappy with it.
Mastering reality would entail having a talk with my boss about opportunities, passing out resumes to other companies, analyzing the offers and taking the higher paying job with good growth potential. That way I'd be able to support a more affluent lifestyle. I see this as an aggressive approach. Instead of adjusting, I'd create a new situation for myself.
Dealing with reality would mean walking, bringing baon, going out sparingly, and gritting it out until an opportunity shows itself. Matutuong mamaluktot sa maikling kumot, kumbaga. But how long can one keep doing this, adjusting to reality? It's a very passive approach and in my honest opinion will not yield any good results anytime soon. This is, sadly, the trap that keeps people in their underpaid, overworked jobs. While this trait, being matiyaga, is held with high regard in our society, it is just impractical these days. I'm only 22, but I don't have all the time in the world to succeed.
Navigating it would mean carefully combining the two. Gritting my teeth, bringing baon, and creating an opportunity for myself. This I can do by being pro-active and talking to my boss, showing interest that I can handle new things and take on a new role at work. It's not as easy as it sounds. I've been doing the first two things mentioned for about a year and a quarter now. And doing the latter does not necessarily mean I'll get results right away.
This is probably my best option though, with the recession and all. I just can't help but wonder how long I'll last. Blatantly put, my needs are slowly changing, and the compensation just isn't cutting it. At all. Not that I just want to spend more, I just want to be able to be more flexible, do other things and save up more for my future.
I'm still continuously analyzing my strengths and weaknesses, my skill sets, to see what I can advertise about myself, in case I do decide to move on. Life is definitely not simple; school is simpler than it looks. Because when reality bites, it bites hard.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I found him! Tal Navarro LIVES!
After all I've done to find him, though, nothing worked. He was right under my nose. Apparently, a friend of mine, Popoy, had his YM ID all along. He just hasn't been online for the longest time.
This afternoon, Popoy told me that Tal was online, so I immediately messaged him. And 2 hours later, he responded! These were his words:
Tal: WTF, buhay ka pa pala! Hahah!
To which I said:
Dodge: Tangina pare, alam mo 10 years na kita hinahanap!
Niiice. Finally, I found him!
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I had this close friend when I was in Grade School. He was one of the close friends I had in class that time. I thought he was gonna be with us to be accelerated into HS, but then I learned that his dad went to Singapore and they were gonna move with him. He left LSGH before Grade 6 and we never saw him again. He did, however, write letters for an English class assignment. I was able to write back a few times, but after that we lost contact.
I heard he went back home to the Philippines when I was in 1st year High School, and I've been wanting to find him since then. Last I heard was he went to HS in ADMU. Some of my Grade School classmates who moved to either Phil Sci or ADMU HS would say that they'd see him. I never got back in touch with him though.
His name's Tal Navarro. And yes, tonight, I finally re-began my search for him. I asked my other Grade School classmates, but they only remembered him until Grade School. I posted a message on Plurk, Facebook and on my YM status, hoping that someone would reply. Haha. Now I'm blogging on Multiply.
Luckily another friend of mine, Mickey Jamias found this Friendster Profile that seems to belong to Tal's HS Class. And it wasn't set to private! I just messaged the profile kanina. I hope I hear from whoever owns that profile.
I'm sure things have changed, but it'd be cool to at least get to see him and talk with him again. I know my other friends would wanna see him too. :D
If any of you know him, tell me okay?
EDIT: I just googled his name again with the tag ADMU and it seems he might've taken Electronics, Computer and Communications Engineering in ADMU.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I'm used to walking around the streets of Metro Manila. I walk a lot.
I walk along Annapolis for 20 minutes everyday. I walk along Buendia for 15 minutes everyday. I've walked all over Pasig and Marikina, literally. I've walked around Makati, both in the CBD (where I still get disoriented) and in the outskirts.
There's just one thing I can't stand in the Manila Streets. It's not the pollution. Or the people.
It's the MMDA pedestrian overpasses around the main streets of Metro Manila! Especially if they're uncemented and you hear the metal wobbling under your footsteps as you struggle to get across. Jesus Christ. Those never fail to make me breathe faster.
The worst was when I was going around in Sales, I got down at Katipunan and I crossed a really really loooong overpass that was crossing a highway leading to Marikina. It was probably 50 meters long, and it was wobbling. I was the only one crossing, carrying 5 lbs of stuff for my route, but I was grabbing at the railing like hell.
The next worst was the one that goes over Ortigas. I crossed there a few weeks ago when I was walking home from Galle. Wobbly. Another one is the one that goes over EDSA/North Avenue. Sooo looong and sooo wobbly. Ugh.
I just grip the railing and breathe deeply whenever I cross over those poor metal substitutes of something that would be much safer if it were cemented.
I just remembered this cause I crossed another one this afternoon, one that crossed Quezon Ave from Banawe. However, this one was had cement on the metal. No wobbling. Thank goodness.
The overpass that's in front of Unimart has no roof but is made of cement. Why cant they all be like that? :( I passed that on my way to the pet shop at the end of Wilson (along P. Tuazon), and on my way back to the house. Yes, I walked that far. Manila streets aren't too bad. :)
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I was working on lots of stuff today. I was even too busy to notice that I hadn't had lunch. Thank goodness some officemates would bring food and give me some from time to time today.
I was hoping I'd stay late at work tonight to finish my urgent tasks, I was already planning what I'd do tonight and tomorrow. Then I got a call.
My mom called me, I was wondering what was up because she never calls while we're both at work. Then she asked if I had to stay late at work tonight. At this moment, I was sure that something was wrong. Annnnnd, something was.
My dad apparently got rushed to the hospital this afternoon. When I learned this, I was so ready to stop working and rush home. I know I won't visit in the hospital, but I had to rush home to take care of whatever. This was when I learned lesson # 1. Family > Work.
Thank goodness for this condo, and thank goodness my dad's actually very amiable. His friend, a driver who works for someone in the condo, and the security guard brought him to the hospital. This was when I re-learned lesson # 2. Be nice to everyone. My dad never forgets the people downstairs, whether its to give them rice when he knows they don't have enough, or some ulam when he knows they don't have any, or just to talk with them.
Apparently, my dad had high BP, 200/100. From what I've been hearing from my mom and the driver, it seems like he also got a mild stroke, which really concerns me, because he had a Mitral Valve transplant about 5 years ago. That mild stroke DEFINITELY can't be good for him.
Well, he's still having tests now. Hopefully the results are good.
When I heard the news, so many thoughts ran in my head. Who'll bring my sister to school? Who'll pick her up? What'll we have for dinner? Who'll cook/buy? Have the bills been paid? How about the laundry? Until when are my sister's exams? Lol. Those are the things my dad worries about daily. Lesson # 3. It's not easy to be a dad/houseband. My paternal (or maybe kuya) instincts kicked in; I went home early and cooked dinner. I cooked Pork Afritada and made lots; that way my sister and brother will have food to eat even when I'm not around. (May baon rin ako for tomorrow!) I also cooked something fancy to have fun, Marble Potatoes and Caramelized Onions in a Balsamic Reduction. Hahaha. O diba?
Related to this learning is Lesson # 4. The married/parent life is sooo different and so much more serious. I have much to learn before I become one myself.
You know how we blame each other when shit hits the fan? I re-learned Lesson # 5 when I heard the news. Yes, I know sometimes pasaway dad ko sa diet, but blaming him won't help. Resolve the issue first and foremost. Once he's well and we can all breathe, then discuss what's wrong. Screaming one's lungs out when a situation comes won't help. At all.
That leads me to re-learning Lesson # 6. Keep your cool. No point in screaming when it's already there. There's nothing screaming can do. :)
My sister YMed me this afternoon, asking me a question (which I later on deduced was related to my dad's hospitalization). As we talked, she eventually said she wanted something to make her want to study, and she asked if she could eat the ice cream at home. She also said she wanted comfort food! Lesson # 7. It's nice to actually know what someone wants, and it's nice to actually give it to someone. When I went home, I bought Ube Ice Cream, and I got my sister a Caramel Sundae and Mentos. :) She said, "What's wrong with you today, Santa Claus?" Hahaha. She's really funny.
Well, I hope things'll work out soon. I'm hoping to go to work early and go home early, and when my dad gets home, I'm planning to take a leave to take care of things at home.
| | comments: 4 succesful products of mental exercise or your own product of mental exercise? |
| | Subject: | Day 2 | | Time: | 01:59 pm |
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| Day 2 of avoiding excessive computing/gaming: Success.
I've been having this numbing feeling on my wrist/hands lately. Sometimes it gets a bit annoying, because the palms of my hands get slightly painful. It's probably overused (doh). I have to stop and take breaks when working in the office, and I'm avoiding gaming right now. Pretty ironic since I'm working in the gaming industry.
Keeping busy is key. And tonight, I watched Watchmen again. Met up with Siobe to give something she asked me to buy, and then we decided to watch Watchmen. Woohoo! Still great the second time around, I actually caught more things this time around.
I really appreciate how human (aka inhumane) the characters are portrayed in the film. It's really not for the masses. I still think the R-13 sucks because not everyone can appreciate it. Especially the noisy crowd behind us this evening. Lol.
Anyway, I hope this rest will work for my hands. It's probably also my posture and the ergonomics of the keyboard, mouse, computer table and chair.
I still enjoyed Watchmen. Might go for a 3rd or 4th time before I stop watching it. \m/ | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| First of all, Happy Birthday Anjo! (Even though you're not on Multiply)
Anyway.
I'm not fond of comic book/graphic novel movies, I just think that sometimes, maybe filmmakers run out of original ideas to put on film. But the movie adaptation we watched tonight was superb and according to my friend, remained pretty loyal to the comic book, if not better.
Yes, The Watchmen kicks ass. Kicks, not kicked, because it'll continue to be one of the best movies ever. Even though I'm irked that MTRCB had to cut sex scenes and uber violent scenes to make it R-13 from R-18, I think it's still really good. The scenes they cut were scenes that did not really impact the movie in my opinion, but they would've been a good addition to the very insanely mature theme of the film.
In all honesty, even with the cuts, I don't think 13 year old should see it. The theme is just too heavy for that age group. It might be too life-changing or morally twisted for that age group, who is normally going through adolescence.
Either way, I loved the film. And Gundam 00's premise might've even been inspired by the whole darkness of The Watchmen.
The film had the right amount of violence, gruesomeness, sexual themes, personal morals (think 3rd stage of Kohlberg's stages of morality) and just plain cool lines from the superheroes. Rorschach is the perfect example. Lol!
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Had a pretty harsh week, despite not being able to come in on Tuesday cause I was sick. I've been going on OT since I got back to work, and today wasn't an OT night, but it wasn't a regular day either.
After that looong, looong task today (which really made my shoulder muscles hurt), it was already 7 pm. I didn't feel ready to go home. I was partly looking for something to do tonight while partly resigning myself to just going home. My friend Jed told me I'm just not used to not having a night out on a Friday night.
I decided that I needed to treat myself to whatever, because I think I did fine today. There are times wherein you just gotta accept the fact that you will have to spend and overspend. Lol.
After a dinner with officemates, they were going to play WoW in iHooked Katipunan for some raid they scheduled. I decided, why not go with them? It's a welcome change of environment. I would've gone for a 2 hour massage but I don't know of any affordable but good spas. Still, I was pretty relaxed there. It was like having alone time with company.
After a few hours of gaming, what comes next? Yes, you got that right eating. We paid our friend Mister Kabab a visit. Yummy and cheap.
And now I'm home. And tomorrow, I've got roughly drawn plans. A raw schedule. Surprise me! (Tapos biglang may OT pala sa office.. noooo! T__T)
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| What else is there to talk about? People hate it when other people talk about nothing except themselves. It's true, why would you want to have a conversation with an egotist?
However, this got me thinking, what is our threshold for the idea of people talking about "themselves"? What do we associate with and consider as "themselves"? I think this limits a lot of things, because if people talk about their life, then it would also reflect "themselves". Even if they talk about their jobs, their cat, their dog, their car, wife, husband, baby, house--even their thoughts! That would still be about "themselves".
If we talk about "ourselves", that includes practically the same things mentioned above.
From that, I can deduce that there are only three topics of discussion in this world:
ourselves, themselves, and them (those things which have no selves, or are not related to the selves of "themselves").
Okay, that sounded pretty complicated. "Ourselves" is everything that has to do with us. "Themselves" is everything that has to do with them. "Them" may be two things--friends of "themselves" (we love mentioning funny anecdotes about our friends, right?), which we can probably refer to as 3rd parties in conversations, and the other thing is the 4th party, so to speak, which are things that do not really concern either "ourselves" or "themselves", such as our ruminations on life and the world.
Man, that means we have pretty boring conversations; they are very limited--to you, me and it. No wonder we get tired of talking with our friends from time to time!
This is one good reason for us to value silence. We can't talk forever.
I remember something I read in Tuesdays with Morrie where Morrie says, "What is it about silence that makes people uneasy?"
See how that felt?
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Current Music: Foo Fighters - Razor
I should keep this up. It's a welcome change. More penurious next time, though.
But whatever, yeah! Woo.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I wish our musical talents weren't all actors, so they wouldn't have to be tied to TV stations. Or if they aren't, I wish they still weren't all tied to TV stations. That way we could have more quality awards shows like the Grammys. Then again, how many really talented, unique artists do we have?
The bands nowadays are actually showing more promise than the solo artists. Diamonds in the rough.
I wish our artists were more unique and original. Even if my first wish came true and we had awards shows like the Grammys, we'd keep seeing Sarah Geronimo with Pops Fernandez, Divas with Divas, Sitti with whomever, ugh please. QUALITY with ORIGINALITY please. Don't get me wrong, we have unique artists. We just need more.
I just got chills with a duet between the vocalist of Coldplay and Jay-Z. Holy cow, now THAT's a performance.
I wish new musical genres would become more popular here. No, I don't want jazz and DnB and stuff to be mainstream. I just want them to be more profitable. Artists need to feed themselves, it's not always art for art's sake.
I wish I find my extra AV cable for the PS2. Haha. I can't play in the sala as often as I'd like to, parating may gumagamit ng TV!
I wish I remembered what else I was thinking this morning. 5th time I broke my promise to myself to write down whatever on my notebook. Haha.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I'm still pretty bored with life. I'm just pouring out this boredom and channeling the energy into work. But yeah, because now is a weekend, I'm back to ultimate boredom. I've been worried about what to do during my weekend since last Monday.
Last night, I went out to Greenbelt and had a movie night. Took a night off work and met Mishi. We watched Seven Pounds, and then suddenly decided it would be fun to watch a second movie, Marley & Me, the last full show. Talk about a fun night preluding to a stagnant weekend!
Anyway, Seven Pounds was fine, but too heavy. I don't think I was ready for something that heavy, especially since I'm not exactly giddy at the moment. Spoiler after this.
What really disappointed me was that they focused too much on one of Will Smith's "gifts", which immediately became a love story, instead of going the "Pursuit of Happyness" route which showed a more encompassing story of the character's life. I mean, there were 7 people, they could have focused more on at least 4 or 5 instead of just 1.
Because we found the movie heavy, we agreed that we couldn't watch Milk or Doubt. So, we went for Marley & Me.
Marley & Me, in its full glory, is a total scam. It's a never ending story with no character development whatsoever; only the dog got character, if at all. It was more of Marley and less of "Me". Possible spoilers below.
They only used the lead roles' names to sell the movie. Their roles reminded me of a lot of their usual roles -- Owen Wilson as Dupree from You, Me and Dupree, and Jennifer Aniston as the usual frantic woman (which weirdly enough kept reminding me about her role in Along Came Polly).
It was so bad, that we never knew when the movie would end. The movie had no serious conflict, everything was going their way all the time. There may have been minor setbacks, but it was too happy. Every time a problem seemed to arise, it always got resolved, followed by a black screen (some editing, seemed like a cheap, old movie) and by us saying out loud, "When is this going to end?" The movie promoted as a comedy film turned out to be very, very bland after the middle.
But anyway, at least I had a nice break from work and I had fun. But yes, last night really overshadowed today. I was so bored, that in spite of Mishi's warning not to do work today, I just had to.
I barely did any work, but it felt good anyway. Haha. Eventually I helped out at home and did some chores, until I ended up sitting and playing the day away. I haven't played WoW for weeks, but after just a few hours, I'm tired of playing WoW again! Man, this is bad. It's my job to keep playing and know new developments in the industry. Haha.
I'm still dead bored, and I'm wondering what to do tomorrow. I have a slight idea, but it's mostly stuff I have to/promised myself I'd do. Bottom line is, I still don't have stuff I want to do, other than go out and meet certain people (which is pretty costly if done often). Damn, I think I need an out of town/country trip with friends or something. I'll start saving up for that. Melody, tama na pagkukuripot, mag food trip na tayo sa malayo! Haha.
Eraserheads is coming up, and I'm not as stoked as before. But hey, it should be fun... and overflowing with people.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
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grateful
