--Rant--

Whatever happened to the times when you can ask a simple question and get a simple answer in return? Nowadays, if you ask a simple question, you get dumped with more complicated issues PLUS lots of extra work on the side.

It's one helluva "Dilbert scenario"...

Slug Mode

I'm reading through an online tutorial for emacs, an extensible text editor (from what I gather; I may be wrong) my friend is trying out lately, which can supposedly do so many things like compile and debug programs, play different media types (as my friend eagerly demonstrated to me), be modifed to serve as your planner and yadda yadda other different functions. My mind doesn't seem to be cooperating, though, and I'm already getting confused. It doesn't help that I'm in sluggish mode right now. My body doesn't think I got enough sleep last night, but I am of the opinion that 6 hours is plenty enough sleep for anybody.

Cripes, I wish I could be all smiles and cheer today (which I usually am not). I remember we had this friend from college who was seemingly blessed with an endless supply of fizz and energy; she could talk non-stop from sunup to sundown... and beyond. And not just talk in the normal way. She does it with this loud, lively voice which can penetrate through most types of walls, punctuated regularly with mindless, maniacal laughter. Rare is the person who could keep up with her.

Oh I don't want to be exactly as energetic as her. Maybe just enough to last through half a day with her and be considered good company. Well, I think I'll need extra doses of vitamins to achieve that goal hehehe...

Typing on Thin Air

This picture sort of reminds me of Washu from Tenchi Muyo, the way she always types on this keyboard seemingly projected onto thin air. I've always wished I could have one, too. The fact that cell phones with this capability are starting to appear means the possibility isn't too far off... yay! real coolness! =)

The picture shown above with its accompanying article can be found on http://www.physorg.com/news3505.html .

New Unfinished Layout...

As the title says, new unfinished layout up. It's still in the works and there's still a lot of things missing, as well as things that need revising. I hope I get the time to do them soon...

There’s a price we pay to keep our sanity…

… The price of a cigarette burning into our lungs, our minds wandering as the smoke curls up into half-seen ghosts before us.

… The price of mindless laughter, strained and mirthless, trying to fool ourselves and others that, in spite of everything, we ARE happy.

… The price of three cups of coffee, accompanying us in our caffeinated stupor of endless work and self-deception, telling ourselves that THIS is what is truly important.

… The price of half a day curled up in our beds, forcing ourselves to be dead to the world, wanting so much to escape into our dreams.

… The price of a song, sung in the complete silence of our minds, walled off from all the things that threaten to shatter us.

… The price of slowly falling tears, as we break our hearts letting go of unfulfilled dreams, and memories of what could have been…

Sanity… we pay for it with a part of our very selves… and never will we ever be the same again.

Cooking With Heart and Soul

Of the many cooking shows that are currently being aired on Discovery Channel, Kylie Kwong's "Cooking with Heart and Soul" is the one I enjoy watching the most. Come to think of it, it IS the only cooking show that I really watch on Discovery.

The funny thing is, I don't watch this show because I want to learn fab new recipes that I can prepare and lay out for my family and friends, or even for myself. I don't even take down the ingredients Kylie uses in her dishes, or even pay meticulous attention to details like how long you need to boil those fresh slices of pork, or just how much ginger, olive oil and salt is enough to give that sauce the best possible flavor.

I think what keeps me mesmerized with the show is Kylie herself. She has a unique style of preparing her dishes. She moves in brisk, practiced motions, expertly slicing and dicing anything from whole slabs of beef to small pieces of shrimp or tiny buttons of mushroom. And through the whole process, she explains what she's doing in a lively, slightly Australian-accented voice, infectious in her enthusiasm and passion for cooking. Even the show's set is reflective of Kylie's personality, as well as the way shots are taken with closeups and unexpected angles.

Her recipes are an interesting fusion of a thousand different flavors. All those ingredients you'd think couldn't possibly go together, she nonchalantly plops into a pot and somehow produces something that you just know will taste wonderful. (Or maybe that's just me and my non-existent cooking skills.) Her Chinese roots and Australian influences, as well as touches of Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern tastes, are evident in the unique and extremely varied dishes that she prepares.

So if you're looking for a not so run-of-the-mill type of cooking show, I suggest you check out Kylie Kwong's "Cooking with Heart and Soul." Your senses will be in for a different kind of experience.

Shit! I want to go home. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore. It would be better if I just continued this tomorrow. And I thought I was almost finished, too.

I’ll just go do something unproductive like watch my nightly dose of Koreanovelas. I know! I know! Jologs na kung jologs! They’re kinda cute to watch. And since I have no way of watching the Korean movies like “My Sassy Girl” and “Il Mare” that I dearly love, they’ll have to do.

Twenty minutes to go… Can’t wait to get out of here...

Sometimes I just hate myself...

Yup, I could definitely kill/kick/strangle/beat-up/spit on/trample/blast/vaporize myself right now... and most days of the week...

AaaaaggggH!!!! >= (

Of Departures and Sleeping Problems

More than half (?) of the Vietnamese residents of our dormitory have already left. This morning as I left for the office the place was unnaturally silent for a Saturday. But I think the amount of racket they made last night more than made up for it. They chose to celebrate their departure with rounds and rounds of beer and rowdy conversation, hard proof that they weren’t at all sad to be leaving this company and this country.

My roommate took her boyfriend’s departure pretty well. Although, of course, she’s sad about it, I think they’ve talked and worked out what to do with their situation.

As for me, aside from my roommate’s predicament, and wondering what the Vietnamese will be doing once they get back home, I wasn’t overly concerned with their leaving. I really didn’t know very many of them.

I spent last night watching t.v. and catching up on some reading, finally breaking out of my “sleep-and-do-nothing-else-aside-from-watching-tv” routine of the past nights. I’ve had an overdose of sleep this week, but strangely, I didn’t feel rested after any of my slumber sessions. Wonder what’s wrong with me…

Suxxorz!

It seems that my days of "blogging-while-working" will soon come to an end. I’ll be transferring seats either today or tomorrow. And my new location will have my PC monitor in full view of all who aren’t supposed to see my non-work-related activities, no matter what angle I try to position it.

Major bummer =(

I'm an angel with horns...

Have you ever noticed how doing evil can sometimes perk you up like no other drug can? (There! Putting that down in a sentence is pure evil in itself ~smirk~) Of course, there’s the guilt and the fear and the hatred and all the other bad feelings that come with it. But admit it… deep down inside, some part of you likes it.

Oops. I hope I don’t suddenly get struck by lightning because of the stuff I just said.

And P.S., I’m talking about the mild “little white evils” here and not the big “murder-your-wife’s-secret-boyfriend” or “steal-that-one-million-dollar-fund-to-feed-the-victims-of-the-tsunami” kinds of evil. So don’t go thinking I’m some sort of ex-convict in disguise or anything like that, alright?

Separation

Tomorrow my roommate’s Vietnamese boyfriend is leaving for home. It’s apparent that the thought of the impending separation is weighing heavy on them both.

My roommate is usually all happy and chatty in the mornings. Today the silence in our room was a bit oppressing. I was thankful when she finally decided to flip on the television. The lively banter going on between the hosts of the early morning show being aired was very welcome noise. Her boyfriend isn’t in any better shape. In the space of a week he’s grown thinner and his face more tired and haggardly.

It really pained me to see them trying their best to be cheerful this morning. The weather and the radio in our service van to work weren’t very cooperative, though. Of all days, the sky chose today to be gray and gloomy, and the blasted radio kept spewing sad, emotional love songs.

Tomorrow will be worse, the actual day of his departure. I don’t know if I’ll be able to comfort her… I’m no good in these types of situations. Especially since I can’t imagine what kind of hell she’ll be going through. I just hope being there for her will be enough.

Random Windows Weirdness

This is weird... my PC is playing an mp3 and I don't know which software it's using. I've looked at the task manager and the only programs that are currently running are Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. Now how do I turn the music off?

Yes, once again, Windows is going bonkers...

Bungee-jumping

What’s the scariest thing you’ve done in your life? How long did it take you to summon up the courage to take that first step toward that which you feared? Or did you hold back? Did you retreat and retrace your steps to where you were before… to where everything is familiar and to some measure, predictable?

Don’t we all wish that we were simply brave? Fearless. That the word “afraid” was as alien to us as little green men from Mars.

Shit. That’s all I can say. Shit and more shit. Because all we can really do is swallow that big lump of dread stuck in our throats, and just DO IT. And then cross our fingers and hope that everything will turn out ok.

The Thermodynamics of Hell

This has got to be one of the funniest things I've read. It was taken from an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at" which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So: If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is, therefore, extinct - leaving only Heaven and thereby proving the existence of a divine being - which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God.

"THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".

A cursed morning to y'all

What is it with men in crowded public vehicles? They always manage to have their shoulders or their arms or even their hands bump into women's most private parts. I mean, wtf?!&@$! Commuting is already a harrowing experience as it is. No need to add to our misery!

If I could I'd curse you all to eternal damnation in all seven hells, you sex-crazed idiots!!!

Bored

Been hopping through the net... reading all sorts of stuff... wanna go home... but nothing to do there... can't stay here... can't think of anything to do... really, really bored... thinking of Sunday... and how it'll be Monday soon... thinking about my future... seems like nothing there... can't think of anything... that can make me happy... at least at this moment... for the rest of the evening... would be really interesting... to lead an interesting life... have to stop this... endless blabbering... think I'll go home now... to endless boredom...

Get Right and Crazy!

I’m obsessing over Jennifer’s latest single, “Get Right.” It’s like I wanna download the song… pop it into my playlist… crank it up… and wave my arms in the air like Jlo does in the video… uh yeah! uh yeah! Of course, I wouldn’t do it where anyone can see >: )



Hahahaha… I’m going bonkers. The past week it was “One Hundred Years” by Five for Fighting. I’d put it on endless repeat on my playlist at home, and sing it while working in the office, without giving a damn that I was probably giving someone a headache with my offkey voice.

Music can definitely bring out my inner crazy person. Most people don’t think I have one. But surprise! surprise!… I do! It's just that it's not very often when it happens. So you have to keep your eyes peeled for it >=)

I never thought it could happen to me...

In the middle of a perfectly normal day, a day as full of frustrations and things to fume about like any other, you turn your head and there before you, unexpected as lightning... the incarnation of the very ideals of your subconscious… perfection at its most perfect… one of the biggest surprises destiny could ever hand you. From one moment to the next everything changes… the feeling of it just slamming your heart to a stop. And when you start breathing again… you turn your head back and pretend that nothing ever happened. But the truth is, you know... you’ll never have a moment like that in your life ever again.

Image Upload

Just got a photobucket account so I'm trying it out with this pic from the uber-cool anime "Samurai Champloo." I hope my friend hurries up and finishes watching his Champloo VCDs so I can up and borrow them =)

How to Make Blog Templates 101

I spent some time last night trying to figure out how the blogger template worked. I got lost in a maze of cascading style sheets, HTML tags, blog functions and scripting languages. Oh man, I really need to review what I learned a long time ago about HTML and CSS if I ever hope of successfully creating my own template for my blog. But heck, if I can't hack it I can always use one of the many pre-made templates available online. Much easier... ü

I just wish I had time today to explore and tweak my blog settings. But with the tons of work here in the office that I have to take care of, looks like I shouldn't count on it.

From Windows to Linux?

It seems that Linux and other open source initiatives are taking off in popularity these days. Even some of my friends have become open source advocates, encouraging others to try it out.

I used to be indifferent to the whole Windows vs Linux debate (which actually is symbolic of the proprietary vs open source/free software showdown going on), quite content with my current Windows XP OS at home. But now, I’m getting curious as to whether shifting to Linux is as great as its advocates make it out to be.

Maybe I will try Linux out in the future… when I’ve got the time. And God knows I haven’t got enough of that these days. But one thing I do like about Linux, is their cute penguin mascot. Feel free to make me a gift of a penguin plushie any day =)

Getting Reacquainted the Blogspot Way

Recently I’ve been finding blogs of former high school and university acquaintances over the internet, and it’s been very interesting reading about what they’re lives are like right now.

There’s G, a former high school classmate. We were never really close being as we belonged to different cliques back then. Now I find out she’s back from getting an economics degree in the US, making big money working for one of the companies here in the Philippines (I don’t know which one since she never mentioned it in her blog). Her entries are very interesting to read, a combination of sossiness, geekiness and the occasional “bakla” remarks. Never knew she was such a fashionista… but then again, I was clueless like that back in high school (and still am, I’m sure most of you would agree).

There’s also J, who I had a big crush on back in high school. I thought he was very cute haha… Now you know how superficial I am… it’s all about the looks, honey. Anyway, big surprise for me reading his blog because now he’s a professional photographer, doing covers for magazines like Pink, Candy, Metro, etc. Funny since he never did any photography exhibits then. We had one or two batchmates who occasionally put up mini-galleries of their photos in the 2nd floor lobby of our high school building. He never did so I never knew he had the talent for photography. And now he’s the one doing it for a living. I’ve seen his work… he’s very good!

I like visiting his blog regularly because oddly, reading about his life sort of inspires me a little. No, he doesn’t write anything which qualifies for a slot in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. It’s just that his story tells me that living your dream is possible. And every entry he makes detailing the events of his life, it’s like seeing the world through the eyes of a man happy and content with his life. For those of us who can’t honestly say that we’re happy living our lives, this is the next best thing.

I’ve also stumbled upon T’s blog, another high school batchmate. When I think back about her now, I can honestly say I didn’t like her. Didn’t hate her but I just didn’t like her..you get the point. She’s studying in an IT school right now. Looks like computers are her life now. Weird since I never took her for a geek back in high school. I saw her more of the sosyalera type—happier partying the night away with her friends than coding programs in front of a computer. Yup, I was definitely clueless back in high school.

And of course there’s M and there’s S (who I found out is currently working in Thailand) and C and N… so many people I knew way back when and getting reacquainted with through their blogs. Blogging beats Friendster any day…