Gaming Nookie

To move?

2006-01-25T12:17:00.000+08:00

I am thinking of moving this darn blog to my own site.

Pero , paano ko kaya ime-maintain yung pagka "blogspot" niya? meh, Wordpress na nga lang.

Frustrations

2006-01-23T20:07:00.000+08:00

Dear Nookie,

Down na naman ang site namen. Ano kaya ang ginawa kong makasalanan sa diyosa ng .php at anghel ng .css na pinarusahan ako ng ganito? Wala naman akong ginalaw sa website.

*dighay*

Sana naman bukas ay maayos na ang lahat.

Meron pa akong ibang mga ilalabas na katotohanan ngunit saka na lang siguro.

Clannish?

2006-01-17T16:16:00.000+08:00

In the world of collectibles, sometimes having too many people playing the game can be a bad thing. Too many people dilute the number of available goods which raises prices. We don’t want that.

On the other hand, we don’t want games dying on us due to lack of players.

Well, some games are more ‘secluded’ than others and aren’t publicly open, keeping members to those referred by existing players or through interviews. An old view, I suppose, but that’s how some of these groups work.

The whole industry suffers, though. Fewer players mean less support for these games.

I know we all love our games but new blood always is needed for dynamic and exciting hobbies.

In the world of collectibles, sometimes having too many people playing the game can be a bad thing. Too many people dilute the number of available goods which raises prices. We don’t want that.

On the other hand, we don’t want games dying on us due to lack of players.

The whole industry suffers, though. Fewer players mean less support for these games.

I know we all love our games but new blood always is needed for dynamic and exciting hobbies.

Hello Year of The Dawg!

2006-01-15T14:55:00.000+08:00

It seems I have been remiss in posting here. Life took over, so Blogger had to be stopped temporarily.

Some news:

1) I launched a forum for DotA but unfortunately have no time to promote it at the meantime. Meh to premature beta.
2) I joined Pinoy Urban Blog. Hope I can keep up posting there better than here. :)
3) I'm writing and editing lots of fiction. And I mean lots.

Oh well so much for now. Great gaming to you folks this 2K6!

Respect your TO

2005-12-16T08:48:00.000+08:00

Respect your TO

I know that there are some people who have learned that tournaments are not all about winning. After all, there only is one winner of a tourney and so what did the other participants get out of it?

Most tournament organizers or TOs host events not to make money out of it but more on providing a venue for gamers to play and meet each other. Often, they do it for free for the game. Despite all the rules questions, the complaints, the bad match ups that get blamed on them, they still persevere.

Some games are all about winning so players only think of themselves and how to get an edge over their opponent. The prize blurs their vision. But in gaming, people played the game before and they did so not to compete for some big prize.

What I’m saying is don’t abuse your TO and respect the TO’s decisions since their word is final within the event. If they made a mistake, tell them so that they can correct it in the future.

So, please join me in giving our hardworking event organizers, judges and shop owners a well deserved round of applause. Thank you.

Good Game

2005-12-15T08:47:00.000+08:00

Good Game

Games are meant to be well-played. Your opponent needs to give a 100% to your match and you as well so that even if you lost, you can say you had a great game even if you lost. Though, as a friend would put it, not everything is for the win.

Exhibit A: You manage to find a loophole in the rules that lets you do something outstandingly game-breaking even though it was not intended to be played that way. You win several games as well a few tournaments with this. Sometimes, even if everybody knows the play was legal, you are looked upon in a bad light with the way you abuse the rules. Who says games have to be logical?

Exhibit B: You win a tournament. No, more than one. Maybe even all of them the last season. It seems you should be honored and given the prestige you deserve. Though, in some cases, it seems that no one has a chance of even getting close to defeat you. So, even when you are winning, you are actually losing.

Exhibit C: You strict adherance to rules decorum is becoming annoying to some. Most people play to have fun, not to break the rules. Everyone needs to be given some leeway. Rules were put into place with certain niceties behind them. Time limits so that we don’t rob too much time from everyone, decorum policies to respect other people’s games and game play rules so that we have a guide as to how the game is played. In gaming, more than anywhere else, are rules meant to be a bit pliable. We don’t need to police everybody in an event they would like to have fun in.

These are just my observations from the various games I’ve played. As my philosophy on gaming goes, it is all about having fun and getting together more than winning and getting lots of prizes. Much like going to the movies, people don’t race to be first in line, you know. Or do they?

Gaming Relationships

2005-12-14T08:46:00.000+08:00

Gaming Relationships

I got the idea to write about this topic from a couple of good friends of mine, who were incidentally also a couple that shared a common gaming interest with me.

Introducing your significant other, or S.O. into the games that you play gives you an additional connection to each other. It helps your S.O. understand why you play this game and why you continue to do so. You can now enjoy more time together with gaming and you can share more as well.

There is one hard, fast rule you should remember though:

Never play against your S.O., unless you absolutely have to.

It just ruins the experience for both of you. Remember that gaming is mostly a male environment and that involves testosterone and the glory of becoming triumphant against your opponent. But once you inject a little estrogen in the game, the rules change. You have to now consider both the game itself as well as the stuff that happens outside the game. Once you, as a couple, play a game it is not now just about offing the other character. It is now about cooperation.

I know some couples are okay with pwning the other but that comes in time. Once both of you get the right skills, you can play against each other as much as you want. Of course, who wants their partner sneaking around killing their character or defeating you in a game? Are you sure it’s just in the game that he does that?

See, now that you both play a game together, you now have to keep the trust you give each other. And the chances of holding on to that drops when you off her character.

In some games, playing against each other is inevitable such as in CCGs or board games. I have no answer to this though. If you play a good game, your S.O. might understand losing and will be determined to play again.

Just make it fun for both of you and everything will be alright.

Massively Mainstream, part 2

2005-12-13T08:45:00.000+08:00

There are a lot of shows out there that feature games as the main source of interaction between the characters, since they were based off an existing game franchise. This was a reversal from previous business plans that used gaming as a merchandising outlet for popular shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and even Winnie the Pooh. Maybe it’s because of the shift of kids from TV to digital games as their entertainment preference?

Pokemon would be a classic example, with players battling it out in arena events pitting pocket monsters or Pokemon against each other to win badges and prestige. No “monster” gets really hurt, and they heal so all is well with the MTRCB as well as for doting parents.

Following it closely in popularity are Digimon; which incorporates a good vs. evil world domination plot; Yu-Gi-Oh, which was spun off the card game; Beyblade, from a top spinning world tournament; and Let’s Go, a racing game.

If we can consider TV as a barometer of mainstream, being able to have a successful show there precludes that your idea is widely accepted and sometimes even promoted by the population at large.

I think the producers of these shows are trying to instill a gaming attitude to kids nowadays. That they take calculated risks and going out to pursue their dreams. It also makes kids prone to challenging authority (as some episodes would show), becoming too independent from the family, and just out to pick a fight. I’m sure these aren’t so much an issue since the regulatory board did screen these shows, but the ideas are now there with the kids.

In my opinion, though, giving kids the right attitude about games spills over to other aspects. Games help us think and get new ideas, they help us try out things we wouldn’t do before and it involves rewards that you really just can’t buy out of your pocket. Remember, it’s just a game.

Massively Mainstream, part 1

2005-12-12T08:42:00.000+08:00

Have you ever noticed that the more popular shows recently as created by the big networks are fantasy based? From the adaptation of old school comics like Mulawin and Darna, to other more original themes, like Encantadia, Mulawin and Marina. There was even a contemporary superhero theme as shown by Krystala.

We can say now that fantasy has already garnered a top spot in the ratings, alongside reality shows, Korea-novelas, and game shows. I don’t really know the cause of the shift in viewer preferences (and won’t even think of explaining it here) but can this mean we can tie up a great TV plot with a great MMORPG (or online game) or MMO storyline as well? I know some MMOs have their own cartoon series, but a real show would be nice.

The problem is, due to prohibitive design costs, we just adapt the MMO as it is from other countries. We could base the mini-series story with that of the MMO but it would leave some viewers out with some of the themes that might be shown. The game has to be true to the show and vice-versa.

Mulawin, for example, already has a great franchise going for it and even has a movie. You could adapt that world into an MMO and capture two base markets at once. Or hit two birds with one stone, if you want to throw a pun at it.

Better yet, an original concept series with potential for out-of-story plotlines and a rich world could be used in a spin-off MMO. Just thinking out loud, don’t shoot me. Please?

Why buying items with real money is cheating

2005-12-10T13:44:00.000+08:00

Let’s admit it, there are some who buy entire characters off people to get a headstart in a MMO. But if you don’t know how to use your character, your doomed to be seen as the newbie that you are.

You see, these things need to be earned much like respect or reputation, and not bought. The hierarchy will not allow it. Even rare items should only be granted to those worthy to wield them. After all, you wouldn’t give a battle axe for a kid to use, would you?

Every game has a sort of social structure and simply buying characters or stuff just points out that you don’t respect this structure. Unless you’re a merchant that resells, though.

Hoping for a casual content creation game here

2005-12-09T13:39:00.000+08:00

Among all the popular games right now, there’s nothing that actually offers its members the ability to create content. Sure, some games let you combine items to create other unique items but none offer the same thing that Second Life does. That game gives players a hand in building stuff inside the virtual world for trade or sale using real dollars.

Being able to create your own stuff will certainly raise the bar in games but with the issue of doing business in virtual goods still up in the air, I don’t think we can see these things making a splash in the near future. Though, I truly hope it does.

Casual gameplay

2005-12-08T13:31:00.000+08:00

As gaming hits the mainstream, eventually we will see more and more people getting into casual gaming. Be it MMOs or puzzle games, many people that get into gaming will be expecting many of the things that they demand from other mainstream outlets, like fast food places, malls, and movies. Gone are the days of trying to understand all the nuances of a fantasy role-playing world or amassing huge numbers of cards to make your deck flexible.

People will want something they can get into easily, with minimal investment and that takes care of their wants in gaming. This is why DotA has been successful. No hardware to buy, easy controls on a stable system that is fun to play with friends. Games should be enjoyable and non-committal, giving the same satisfaction when played once a month or once a day.

Critics would say it removes the hardcore-ness of gaming, reducing it to fluff like pop music or junk food. If you think of it another way, though, getting the mainstream will open the doors for them to enter into other games, niche games that they might enjoy and devote more time to. Nobody loses.

New games should be able to grab the attention of media, be easy to experience casually but would offer more to players that delve deeper. It’s the “hook” that will keep them playing that has spawned MMOs and given them a constant source of income instead of the one shot of traditional PC games.

Again, this is one of the formulas used by the gaming companies that keeps us playing.

Delaying and stalling

2005-12-07T18:21:00.000+08:00

There has been talk in the forums about delaying and the consequences of this. In non-casual play, delaying or stalling calls for serious judgment calls since every gaming round is timed for the tournament. I guess you then have to ask why tourneys have timed rounds but the reason for that is to put pressure and ensure competitiveness of people. But this rambling should go on another post.

In some games, prolonging it may end in victory in the very end. It may be the tactic your build or your group or your army/deck is based on. Nevertheless, it does have some consequences, and not just in the game.

1) Stalling tactics, such as repeating actions, out of game interruptions or just plain taking too long can lead to forfeiture of the round to outright disqualification.
2) A tournament is supposed to have a level of professionalism, and delaying may be seen as unprofessional and might make other people see you as not taking the game too seriously (or even too seriously as the case may be)
3) It’s just plain stupid to prolong the agony if you know you’re losing. It makes other players irritable and won’t bode well for future gaming endeavors.

Remember, people went there to have fun and taking too long removes the fun part from everyone. If you know you are losing, admit it and shake the other guy’s hand. Time is one thing you must never take from others since it can never be earned back.

A New Work PC

2005-12-06T14:12:00.000+08:00

They gave me a new PC at work (finally), retiring my two year old Compaq desktop. Well, it wasn't that old, but who am I to balk at company policy? :)

The great thing is I now got a flat screen so there's more space, and the CPU shrunk. TheCPU can now play DVDs too and there are just a lot of USB connections, even some on the monitor.

The bad part is all of the settings that I have come to love are in the old PC and even if we transfer the files, I might not be able to get some of the tweaks I did before, including my ultra fast Firefox!

Going first

2005-12-06T13:18:00.000+08:00

Going first has long held the advantage in any game we play. From chess to Guild Wars, being in the lead gives you a better edge later on, despite all the sayings otherwise.

In DotA, the first kill has a reward of extra gold for items as well as being able to drive away an opponent from your path. This makes you level up more rapidly than them.
In card games, the first to inflict damage or the equivalent to the opponent can sometimes cripple their game, especially those that destroy resources as well
In MMORPGs, the first one to slay the new big boss gains prestige and honor in addition to the nifty in-game stuff they get.

The first-mover always has an advantage though he must keep others from stealing it from them. I know I went more on the strategy side here, unlike what I usually do.

Well, besides the tactics and strategies, being first really takes some balls to do. It involves a great amount of risk, sometimes even destroying your chances of winning in the event of failure. Or, you may give an advantage to your opponent that will be very difficult to gain back.

What we should remember, though, is that we can risk a lot in games that we can’t do in real life. So, make the most of it! After all, it is just a game.

A Gaming Christmas

2005-12-05T12:58:00.000+08:00

This Saturday will be the Christmas party of sorts for L5R’s Edge of Rokugan. I know it really can’t be attended by everyone, especially those in the other parts of the archipelago but I know that they will be with us in spirit. Hopefully.

The event will be held in Southern MM, though I’m still ironing out details. This will likely be a gaming party, with everyone welcome to pit their decks against each other after the tourney at the gaming shop at the Town Center. Logistically, some stuff haven’t been solved yet. Well, all of them actually.

1) Need to confirm the place where we will party. It needs to have enough tables, be able to accommodate upwards of 25 people and can be noisy as well as free for the whole night. I hope Tom’s place will do. Also need adequate lighting. We can rent out tables, if need be.
2) Booze and food will be handled by a small entrance fee. I’ll be pitching in for the excess and I would also be asking the guys to prepare some specialties of theirs for the party
3) We also need to organize transpo there. Most of the people from the other places need directions to the place.

The tourney is going to be huge, as far as I can hope. Prizes will be solicited from Vic, Bong and myself as well as the usual boosters and shizz.

Why do we play games?

2005-12-04T18:31:00.000+08:00

I am going to ask around why people play games so much and why some of them are so passionate over it. But first my thoughts as well as my experience:

* Gaming helps you connect with friends. It certainly is keeping my high-school buddies and I together (though not as much as before).

* It releases stress while stimulating the side of the brain you don’t use as much; left or right, take your pick.

* Not so much as entertainment and amusement, it is an activity that you look forward to and most of the time becomes a regular part of your day.

* You can do stuff you can’t normally do in real life, like fly jets, or jump of cliffs or do a vert 360.

As for the passion, from what I have learned, it is a function of the depth of the gaming world you are in. Magic, my first CCG, was not so much about the back story but the elements it was part of, taking from the mythos of the real world, as well as having great game play.

L5R, now that has a good back story. Even if you didn’t play it actively, the story will keep you glued like a soap opera or telenovela. This was the case of the other games that came out in the heels of the widely popular M:TG.

I also played VS for a while, but I played that for the game play rather than the story. It had none, anyway, taking superheroes from DC and Marvel as its characters. That was pure, unbridled play style passion, which eventually what made me quit it as well.

Don’t play miniatures, figs, RPGs, PC games, arcade games or MMOs. I’ll have to research on those.

Personally, I think the games we played as kids (or are still playing now in the case of others) are the ones we’ll be looking back to play again. That passion came from something you really enjoyed due to the infinite possibilities it presented you, the new concepts it introduced to the young, inquisitive mind and the chance to interact and share your passion as well.

Now leave me be, I need to finish my research for this article.

The Gaming Formula

2005-12-01T13:29:00.000+08:00

The way games are introduced has changed from what it was before. In the past, you just had to look at the price tag of the game and immediately you had an inkling how good it was. Super Mario Bros. 3 was far more expensive than Mappy or Joust, and so it was assumed it was better (not saying that it was not).

In the onset of gaming, having a hefty price tag told us the games had a lot of resources thrown at it and so the large dent it could make in our parents’ wallets. For the most part it still held true: more expensive consoles and their more expensive games were often the best in the line. Supply and demand also took part in this in that if the game was really good, it would be sold out quickly therefore jacking up the price.

Nowadays, it seems the best games are free. The Internet introduced a whole new gaming arena, with players just sitting out there, waiting to try out your game. If you charged for it, you’ll get fewer people to play your game. You charge them later, when they are already hooked into the game. No cash out at the start, which makes it seem free.

They’ve done this for offline games before but online games seem to have followed this formula since time immemorial.

Release a beta to a few choice participants, letting them become your promoters
Launch the free version and entice people to play through ads.
Once you get a certain threshold, launch the paid or subscription version.
Sit and wait for the money to flow in.

There are a few fallouts after it becomes paid but those that stay and are “locked in”, to use marketing lingo, keep the company afloat. It kept the serious players and those who had time to keep up their online relationships or their virtual goods. Honestly, though, there are too many online games out there. If you can get a group of your online buddies to hop through the various beta versions, you’d still be able to keep your core group as well as enjoy free gaming. Not something dedicated MMO gamers would do though.

Guildwars went with the old route though. You would have to buy the game itself, just like a console game and priced similarly, before you can play. The idea is to get the people who want to play games for the endings and cinematics. It worked for the most part, since the gameplay and the marketing strategy matched. It also kept those who bought the game playing, to earn back what they paid for. They are looking at going the normal and cheaper route, though, to entice new players since they already have a player base established. It might be a bad move, though, since the existing players would become ticked off. It might look like you did a sleight-of-hand with them.

Anyways, the moral is to keep your service free on the ‘net then charge later either for premium services or for keeping their existing accounts. Now, we just have to manage a way to pay without buying those damn cards for every MMO we play…

Of measuring instruments, sideways card orientations and random number generators.

2005-11-30T13:23:00.000+08:00

Before gaming online, we had the “real” sort of games. Those that needed actual hardware, like dice, cards or miniatures. These are still very much alive, the preferred games of the pioneer “geeks” that colonized the uncharted territory known as gaming.

There seems to be a minor rennaisance going on with gaming in general. Magic: the Gathering, the first CCG, came out with a great set for their new arc which stayed true to a lot of the initial Magic concepts while putting in something new. Versus, the upstart comic-based game, released the long awaited JLA expansion which surely pleased a lot of those playing the game, since they have been waiting for their favorite heroes to come back or come out for the first time.

At our local gaming shop, Warhammer is beginning to attract games again and keeping the tables busy. L5R is also attracting those veterans with the new base set which introduced better mechanics, great cards and reprints of beloved cards and personalities of old.

The theme seems to be to get back those old players back into the game, even for a while. These are those that before enjoyed the game when they were kids and now have the spending power to continue their passion. A lot of the young ones are into the online games, and so attracting the more mature audience seems the way to go. These are the ones who are really passionate about the game and keeping them happy would be very good for the gaming companies and retailers as well.

Veterans are the new buck.

GN, restructed

2005-11-29T13:19:00.000+08:00

You may have noticed that I have increased the number of gaming articles in this blog. Well, it is supposed to be about that when I started it but it was precluded by my real life. Any case, I’ve changed the site icon (that odd W is a tribute to Wordpress, so don’t rat me out!), talk more about games of all sorts as well as little improvements here and there.

Previously, there was a great magazine for gaming but they folded. It was inevitable, in hindsight, with the coming of the Internet age where info is free and discussion forums and gaming sites can provide just as much satisfaction to gamers thirsty for news. I was looking for my copy of that mag where I had an article, just to see how bad my first published article was.

I’m still passionate about gaming but not as much as into strategy or rules. More on the effects that these have on players and the mainstream, those social aspects that are generally not focused on in gaming. Most mags and sites are about reviews, new releases or strategies. I talk about the gaming experience itself, how it keeps us playing and about all gaming in one fell swoop.

One of the things you have to remember when writing about gaming, be it hobbies or online games, is that you have to be an involved gamer to really connect. Gamers are a different type of animal, and just as territorial. Having a blog that’s free makes it easier to publish as well as enabling me to have my choice of topics that can reach a wide audience, if they do chose to read these musings. So I’m here, still writing about games, massively multiplayer and miniatures, board games or dance simulations. I need a bit of help, though, so if you’re a passionate writer as well as a game freak, you can get in touch with me at gsantos@gmail.com

Thanks and I hope you do subscribe to my RSS feed the link at the side column.

Edit: Also changed my web addy icon. Check the funk out!

Console gaming or MMOs?

2005-11-28T13:03:00.000+08:00

I recently came across a local podcast that outlined a debate between single player games and massively multiplayer online games or MMOs for short. The debate was not actually on single player games per se, but more on games that did not connect to the Internet and let you play with players all around the world. Offline games would be a term we can use, or maybe console games (but that definition would be sorely lacking). I’ll stick to console games since these are the initial single player games of old and just to emphasize the difference. Note that I include RTS, RPG and other PC games here in this group.

MMOs:

1) You can play them wherever there’s a net café. No need to own hardware or even to be a hardcore gamer.

2) Your sure to have people playing the game at anytime, being an MMO and all.

3) Be connected to others while staying at home.

4) It’s usually non-competitive for some, just a means to connect within a virtual world.

5) You get to play dress-up, build things and other stuff you might not have resources to do in the real world, as well as be able to show these off to your friends.

Console Games:

1) You can have gatherings of friends around these, much like billard sessions or poker night.

2) The single player mode has an ending you might want to aim for.

3) Has a lot of variety, from sports, to racing, to puzzles.

4) Will help you develop your gaming skills more.

5) Multiplayer games gives your friends something to talk and joke about.

Just outlining some of the benefits above. Not really a critique or anything since for most of these aspects, the makers of the games are blurring the lines between these two types of games.

MMOs are organizing EB’s, consoles can be connected to the Internet, MMOs are getting more variety in game play and others.

But you have to admit that MMOs have made gaming more mainstream than before. Whereas before, you had to have the cash and be a geekish sort of person to play PC games at a time when sports was still popular. Nowadays, with internet shops all around you don’t have to look hard to be able to play. You can say that MMOs have democratized gaming, in a sense. But I’m getting ahead of myself since this should be a topic for another post altogether.

Why Chicks Play DotA.

2005-11-25T15:26:00.000+08:00

We all know Warcraft 3 has been around for quite sometime but only recently has it been this popular. One of the reasons for this is the map created by a fan who calls himself Guinsoo called The Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short.

This variation takes away the complication of base building and micro management and instead just focuses on controlling one character, the hero, which makes it similar to an MMORPG. Hey, everyone just wants to look out for themselves don’t they? So this is an ideal fit to the selfish side of human nature.

On the other hand, you don’t need the long playing hours of an MMO to build up your hero and everything you need to get your fix is in one round of gaming. Most cases, though, its not and you find yourself playing several games until the server crashes or everyone says enough. And not even then.

I take this from personal experience, since I’ve played the game since last year. Recently, all my friends and acquaintances have been picking up the game even those who vehemently opposed it before. Even those not so inclined to gaming found it quite easy to play, having only one character to control and having very easy commands to use.

The allure of the game seems to be that you really work as a team and so it enhances the social aspect of gaming. The main goal is to get to the base and topple their life source, like an advanced form of agawan base. The more mainstream gamers I know always play with those friends of theirs (or friends of friends) instead of playing with random people in Battle.net, the online version, or joining a random game in a gaming shop.

We do this (since I am not spared of this phenomenon as well) since we know the general skill level of our friends, having played the game at the same time as they, and we know that losing to them won’t feel so bad. It’s like an extension of the movie-dinner-concert thing that friends do.

You also have a chance to fool around when you’re with friends, which is something you can’t do with strangers. Some of the crazy things we’ve done are picking the same name for every one in the team (“Hey, let’s kill n00bie first.” Uhh, everyone is called n00bie in their team.”), cajoling in the pre-game chat screen, trash talking, throwing inside jokes, and using your own settings for the game. You can use the random hero assignment function for your group, for example, if you know everyone is in agreement already. Playing with friends also speeds up games and makes for a better play rather than bickering with other people on who should do what.

I should be getting to the point of this post, right, since I did put on top why girls play DotA, yes? Well most of them play because of their other half, and found they enjoyed it. Kind of a bonding experience of sorts. As they move along, they try to improve their skills and sometimes play against their BF’s even (though I can imagine the strain that would cause).

Being surrounded by friends makes this activity less of an extraordinary activity and more of just hangin’ out. Meet up for a game, have dinner, play again then coffee late at night to discuss other topics as well as strategies. I know for a fact that once you get invited, you’ll be itching to play the game again sometime in the future. Maybe tomorrow.

Social rapport increases, Skill level increases. Everybody teh wins!

Offhand comments

2005-11-23T08:24:00.000+08:00

There have been a string of resignations recently in the office. Very few of the old guard are left now.

Oddly enough, I've already heard some people comment to me that I might be the next one. Unsubstantiated, of course, and really just a comment. Same as "Nice weather" or "Did you see the new Harry Potter movie."

:/

2005-11-21T11:17:00.000+08:00

I visited a geek event yesterday. I was the National Inventor’s Week at PTTC and they featured some of the new and recent inventions by some of the best innovators of the Philippines. Not all were really high tech and I had a sneaking suspicion that most of these guys invented to be prolific rather than to meet some need.

It was a Sunday, which might have explained the lack of attendees. Despite that, the booths still had their share of inventors. These people were really enthusiastic about their inventions and explained readily the benefits they gave or their edge over similar devices or products.

There were booths for the “finalists” (which I guess were from a competition of the sponsor, DOST) and they had categories called Likha and Tuklas. They also had college and high school levels participate as well. I knew I went to something like this before and now I just remembered. We had a sort of field trip in high school to a similar event, in this same place. I guess it would have been the Inventor’s week as well.

Some of the inventions below:

1) Aircon jeep coaster – It was the first thing you would see entering the building, since they were selling these outside. It seemed to be a cross between a coaster bus and a jeep. It looked cool though might be a bit over large.

2) Microscope camera – It was by a professor from UPLB and the device was compact and could fit most light microscopes. A nice invention which we can use to go against something similar abroad. I forgot to ask if it could save the video stream it showed on the monitor and if you could stream it over the net. He also had this clear plastic briefcase he converted into a CPU, also cool.

3) Automated Tubig Machine – ATM, yeah I know it’s cheesy. I also think since the debut of bottled water and Refresh from URC, this device is already passé. It was just a high school project, so it’s forgivable.

4) A wheel clamp – supposedly for stopping cars and to solve illegal parking. But I don’t think it would matter since the local government doesn’t seem to care too much about this issue.

5) A stovetop grill – Not a new device, but it is something that can be marketed widely. It still needs a few design tweaks but it looked good. It even had a version for those mini cookers like superkalan.

There were a lot more like fuel-savers for vehicles, various waste management techniques, soaps and lifestyle inventions, and lots of wonders for cooking. Most were mashups of existing devices and others were built low-tech for use in the rural areas. But definitely, they did have that why-did-I-not-think-of-that effect on them.

In my opinion, some of the inventions did not take into consideration the economy and marketability of their devices. Some might save electricity but the device might just offset the savings. Or that the item would be existing already, but they went ahead anyway.

They did take the first step, though, so that makes it worthwhile. I’m partial to high-tech myself but simple devices that work are also great. I was hoping to see some software but I guess that involves a different event altogether.

In the end, I guess innovation is still alive even in this country which doesn’t seem to put creativity and intellectual property in such a high regard, unlike other countries. I put such a positive spin to things, don’t I?

Bday Saturday

2005-11-21T11:08:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, I dropped by the shop. Lots of players there and I got to play a bit as well. Must be the halo effect of the new base set. Left at 11 pm, a new recent record.

The next day was the tourney. We had 12 players, which is also a pleasant surprise since we were struggling to get 8 players before. A good turnout which I hope will be the same for the future tourneys.

That day was also a celebration of Motz birthday. We managed to grab Mike Rabanal along the way and went to MD’s place. We played a bit of DotA before the main event. I found out a few new things:

a) Rai was studying culinary arts

b) Emer was flying to Jeddah next week, for a one-year stint.

c) Motz was working at a call center in Eastwood, where I’m at.

d) Brandy can be paired with chocolate to remove the after taste.

A few brand shots and stories about Fuku later (as well as a mishap involving my left foot, which I will leave out), we headed home at 5ish the next day. Again, I was slain by the Fuku Clan!

Comeback post

2005-11-21T10:59:00.000+08:00

After a long while…

As usual, life has kept me from posting here. I don’t know if that is good or bad but it did make this blog pretty old. :\

We went for a day trip to Laguna the other week with the prize money we won for our 10^th anniversary presentation. Pansol (the general area where we went) was pretty nice, the pools were heated by the dormant volcano that is Makiling. Or at least I think it’s dormant. We rented two houses for the entire group and also had a videoke session since they had the machine there as well.

One of the funny stories there was this: One of our group, was being cajoled around by the guys. He was kind of the clown and for some reason he charged in from the pool while another dude was handing out drinks from a full bottle of Fundador (the gallon size, I believe). He slipped on the floor as he went careening into the room, taking the monobloc table, a few bottles and the big bottle of brandy with him. We weren’t able to save the alcohol, sadly. What a waste! At the least, we already had a few bottles ourselves so we weren’t lacking in alcohol in us. But damn.

The night before we toured UPLB. It would have been better during the day but we arrived a bit late in the day. The odd thing there is that the new commercial complex just takes you by surprise. On one hand, you have the quaint and quiet of the university. On the other, you have a bustling commercial complex filled with fast food joints, restos and internet cafés.

…

The new base set for L5R just arrived and everybody was itching to play. We brought back some old players into the game and some new faces too. Which was great since more people means more boosters are opened. This also meant everyone can get more cards they need.

There were also a lot of revised rules so I needed to know those when running tourneys. The great thing is that everyone seems to like the base set but we still need to open a few more boxes to make cards available to everyone.

I’ve also went on to start writing fiction for tourneys. Stories based on tournament events are the flavor that makes people enjoy this game all the more. So, I decided to do the same locally (storyline events were mostly a foreign thing) and celebrate the victories of our tournament winners.

I’m not a great writer by far, but Jason and me try our best. We also have Michael David as illustrator. You can see his works here. Some of our stories are found here. Mostly, we stay away from the areas of the official storyline and just use the backdrop for our stories. I was hoping to expand tourney fiction to other games, but we’ll see. They don’t have outlets for those, unlike the L5R forum we have, so I’m not sure where to post those stories.

Anyways, that’s it for now.

Long Time no Post

2005-10-26T08:22:00.000+08:00

My last post was a couple of weeks ago. Hot damn.

Here's what I've been upto since then:

1) Went selling in the Malabon/Malinta/Valenzuela area for a company event. We won the event bagging 10,000 PHP. Now to get that prize. Here's a huge tiger statue at our lunching place.

2) Went to New Zealand for a workshop. It was cold, boring and expensive but still a good place to stay for a few years. Here's a sky view of Auckland, from my hotel suite.

3) Company had its anniversary party. We had Chinggay Andrada and Lucy Torres around. Great food at the Shang!

4) Went to wedding of one of my friends from the Pergola. I wish them the best, yet again!

See how busy I was?

These things have been taking my time besides work.

-Looking for good RSS feeds to get news from
-Selling stuff that's been lying around the house
-Listening to podcasts over IT Conversations.
-Writing the final chapter of a story for Edge of Rokugan, our L5R forums.
-Starting new blogs at i.ph and wordpress. We'll see if I can add content more quickly this time around. ;D

So let's see how it goes. Till my next post!

Note: Also bought an iPod nano. Scratches, gaaaaah!

My Webpage Picks 2

2005-10-06T23:10:00.000+08:00

Just a quick update since I'm itching to share these. Real life must be parked for the moment:

Writely - If you're just writing and don't need to make a great big document, this is the way to go. Highlighting it again since I alredy used it and it's fine software. Combines the best of online word processing and posting web content.
Ning - Just like Blogger but better, since now you can easily make social apps with this solution. Like blogging but reverse. You get my drift.
Netvibes - Your personal webpage, anywhere you may be. Great AJAX work there. And it shoves the latest tech news to me quicker than pinoytechblog.com which seems to be slowing the past few days.
Editsite - A new toy for live webpage editing. Even adding forms. Just wow. You have to pay, though, but it 's certainly worth it.

God, I love AJAX (but it looks to be a pain in the backend)!

What I Did In Dagupan

2005-09-28T17:33:00.001+08:00

Our trip to Dagupan was for a company event, wherein I was part of the organizing committee. This was my 1st trip to this place, which was only a few hops away from Baguio. Since this was a company trip, we did little sightseeing (read: only went to the Dagupan Museum) and we even did not get to buy pasalubong. So we got none of the fabulous bangus they make. But I hear they make bunches of ‘em.

Dagupan breaks World Record for Longest BBQ
Them Dagupenos are very lively, though, and we had a hell of a time. We had a spiffy ride back as well.

The engine for the Dagupan-Manila Express
On the way home, we encountered some heavy downpour. The rain was pouring so hard that the only thing you can see through the mist and torrent were the car lights. Good thing someone was there to help.

One of the impressionist (tama ba?) paintings in the Dagupan Museum
All in all, we had a great time with the event and that in itself was a huge success despite some hiccups. Next stop, Cebu! But before I go, a public service announcement...

What I Did In Cebu

2005-09-28T17:33:00.000+08:00

As it turns out, my flight to Cebu was going to be a lonely one. My inbound flight was misbooked and so l didn't have company. The others were on a later flight. :c
Flying, and traveling in general, is one thing I enjoy. The trip itself is what I like. Must be the movement.
...
I now know cab drivers in Cebu need more training. They don't know the city as well as our Manila drivers do in the Metro. Got lost going to the hotel.
...
One thing Cebu is less known of are its great looking and affordable trinkets. The best place to get these are near the Sto.Nino church, at Briones St.
...
After a sumptuous grilled seafood dinner at Goodah Good (which I personally recommend), we had to inflate some balloons using hand pumps. Let's just say that working the device is not unfamiliar to males. ;)

The next day...
After breakfast at the Bee, the girls do another kikay run and we go to the event venue. This trip is for work, after all, and this is the same event as Dagupan's, only in Cebu. I became assigned to the secretariat (okay, its registration but secretariat sounds so classy). It's not my strong suit and I was even assigned to making name tags, with my penmanship! The Cebuanos were a lively bunch, from the dancing to the balloon mob!
The after-party was marked with a dinner after getting some traditional Visayan pasalubong. Dinner was at Islafoods, up at the Antipolo-like area of the isle, followed by some classic drinkin'!

The others left early but I opted for a later flight to meet the Cebu L5R peeps. After checking-out, I cabbed to Neutral Grounds Cebu. There was a pre-release of Magic then, so not much space for us to game. I handed some promos to Team HOARDER and I must say they are a great bunch. Thanks again to Emil, Mark, Monchu and Allen! The scene is still active there and it feels just like ours, with the trash talking, cheaty moves (legal though) and card hoarding. :)
...
A long cab trip later, I was at the Mactan Airport again for the night. The plane was at the tarmac, so I boarded the way rockstars do. Hehe.

And now I'm back!
Some of the great stuff I took away from Cebu:
1) Burloloys for the gels
2) Danggit
3) Dried Mangoes
4) Cards for Conci
5) Shamrock Otap
6) A Great L5R Experience

Note: Forgive the

Conspiracies, part 2

2005-09-17T18:56:00.000+08:00

Gaddamit, this was supposed to be in that other blog. Now its spoiled. :P

Good thing the fight sequence is not in yet.

Expect it to be up at the Edge soon.

My Webpage Picks

2005-09-17T13:57:00.000+08:00

Meebo.com – bypasses all those corporate security and enables you to YM, AIM, ICQ, MSN safely using AJAX, one of the hottest web technologies in the market. Expect more abbreviated communication services to be added soon.

Kiko.com – An online scheduler you can share that works as good as an offline one. Still in beta and uses AJAX as well.

Writely – Collaborative document editing, safe and secure. Great for story making and thesis collaboration. I hope they do a spreadsheet for this as well.

Remembering 9/11

2005-09-17T12:49:00.000+08:00

The other Sunday, it was September 11. Most would remember it to be a most tragic day. It also happened to be the date of the grandest tournament we've had in L5R for a long time.

So we commemorate the events of 9/11 by knowing we can be heroes ourselves in our own little way. Naks.

We had almost sixty (60) players in this tourney held at Glorietta 2. And here I was worrying about the dwindling gaming community. It lasted for more than 8 hours with a good friend, Irvin Amores, defeating our regular tourney winner Martin Marcelo in the finals. His moniker is "The Khan" which is why we renamed the tourney KHANCON 2005, just like the conventions held in the States.

I was one of the judges and the event and we didn't have any big problems hosting the event. We didn't expect this many people to join though and we ran short of chairs, early on which was solved easily. We also had to call time on some games since we all wanted the event to run as smoothly as possible.

Tourney Highlights:

Triple BANZAI! by the gamers.

Mug shot of Top 8.

Finals between The Khan and The Smiling Crane

The Rock!

2005-09-14T22:03:00.000+08:00

This isn't a place holder or anything. Just a reminder to myself and everyone that a lot of interesting stuff is happening and I'm too busy to post.

I'll be back on the blogosphere again soon, with pictures!

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Conspiracies, part 1

2005-09-08T15:46:00.000+08:00

Conspiracies, part 1

I still haven't finished this piece of fiction for the last tourney. Life is in its way, apparently. Good luck sa akin.

Btw, I need to post more pictures here. Must be more vigilant in photography and image uploading!

[I put in visual checks when commenting to prevent comment spam. They're everywhere!]

It is a virtue.

2005-09-06T13:27:00.000+08:00

Someone is taxing my patience, and I have a lot of it so that cannot be a good thing..

Bookfair at the World Trade

2005-09-05T05:11:00.000+08:00

I decided to go to the Bookfair at WTC at Roxas Blvd on its last day. I knew I should have taken the train, coz it took me an hour and a half to get there. It was a great big bookstore with discounts everywhere but I didn't buy anything. Alright, I wanted to buy something but I was too lazy and I already have three unfinished books I need to... finish. What kept me from leaving was a DC book by Alex Ross, from which I now know how Kingdom Come came to be.

I dropped by HH again since I needed to finish my resume for my interview tomorrow. I wrote it from scratch it only to find out I had a more recent copy in my Gmail. Damn. It was a great exercise though, since I got to find out what my goal is supposed to be while working.

...

I got the number of a pretty girl today without asking for it. :)

Homecoming was...

2005-09-04T15:56:00.000+08:00

Dull.

Apparently, a Friday night sked is bad for an event that is usually slated on a Saturday. Must be the Rivermaya concert for the youngsters.

The usually strong Batch 98 was thin this year with only around 20 people present. After getting some draft beer and some food (which was a bit okay), we DotA'd for 3 hours. Then, we went to Something Fishy for some fishy buffet breakfast and I arrived home at 5 am the next day.

It was great getting together with the local perg again, and I wish the others went.

Highlight: Lich flicks off int heroes like flies, apparently.

...

Saturday.

After a few hours of sleep, I crash to Hobby Haven for the tourney I'm holding. A good number of people joined and a few new players arrived as well. Vitoy, the tourney "sponsor", didn't make the cut though but it was all good.

There's a story for this event as well, up at our site and a prequel as well. Big time na talaga!

Afterwards, we celebrated for SJ since it was his birthday (which I stupidly didn't know). Belated HBD SJ!!

Highlight: Hairy chicharon.

Tidbits 3

2005-09-04T15:50:00.000+08:00

A great person always knows when to stand down.

Something to chew on. Tastes great, doesn't it?

Download Review!!

2005-09-02T11:10:00.000+08:00

Here are my recent downloads:

Avantgo: A great PDA app and service that let's you get websites without being logged on to the net. Besides being free, there is a lot of content available like CNN, Rolling Stone and Coolquiz.com. It may not compare to Plucker, which I also use, since the latter can download anything on the web. Nonetheless, Avantgo is still great for getting the net on the go.
Google Earth: If you've watched MIB: Men in Black, you might remember the scene where Kay looks at his lost love through a satellite feed from space. Now you can do the same using this nifty download. You can't see your house clearly on the free version, but what the hey!
Blogger for Word: Great add-on that let's you blog in Blogspot using Microsoft Word! Now you can skip the login steps and publish direct, for those on the run posts.

Hope to update you on more new downloads soon!

Tidbits 2

2005-09-02T10:40:00.000+08:00

It is always, ALWAYS best to do your homework.

Repist! Repist!

2005-08-31T10:57:00.000+08:00

There is such thing as conversational rape. This is when the other person is talking about something you'ld rather not hear or uninterested in but you can't leave the conversation without creating a scene or leaving broken feelings. It's like you're forced to listen to it.

...

I went yesterday to the office of a Scandinavian guy for an alignment meeting. Good thing he wasn't my boss since I would have been rather affected by his "speech" about our company.

Afterwards I went to Ayala for the Entrepreneur Networking Night, but was a bit early so I went to Powerbooks to browse. I got a Trump book since he's one of the best guys to look up to in business. I also saw an older book with a younger Donald, and he certainly looked a lot better then. And I still think books are the best source of in-depth info. The internet is nice for overviews and such but for more info on a topic, you still need to buy it. So I just buy the book, which is more reliable.

Insert: Bookfair today till Sunday at World Trade center (10a - 8p). Just check out the Powerbooks site.

I got to Fiesta San Miguel Bar at Dusit (where the Networking Night would be) a bit early. This was NOT a MLM event but a place where different entrepreneurs can get contacts. A few comments, if you may

The lights were dim and few people wanted to read their newly purchased mags
The sound was very urban (50 Cent, Ludacris, Eminem) which I don't think the business-savvy audience can relate too.
They started late, which is a big hit for them.

The last is the reason I left early since I know it would just be like the last event which is to say sub-par and not something that will help much.

...

Upcoming events

Friday, Sept 2: Pisay Homecoming

Saturday, Sept 3: Habitat for Humanity, which might be the reason I'll be late for

Saturday, Sept 3: [CONSPIRACY] Tourney, L5R

Sunday, Sept 4: Bookfair at WTC

Sunday, Sept 4: Cinemanila Japanese Filmfest at UP Film Center.

Pretty busy. Too busy. :)

Sound Station

2005-08-29T12:09:00.000+08:00

Here's something new:

Yahoo! Japan has recently launched a Launchcast for their local music buffs, dubbed Sound Station. I've tried it but it shuts down everytime and asks me for a Yahoo! Japan login. Can't fill out the form for the yahoo.jp site since I don't read Japanese. Help!

(my ordinary Yahoo! ID doesn't work either)

Is Credit the Answer?

2005-08-26T17:23:00.000+08:00

I just got another credit card another day. Then I saw the Pisay Foundation Mastercard from Unionbank and just itched to apply. But I stopped myself, thankfully. I think I got too much credit in my hands.

Mind you, I'm not a big spender like before. I also recently got into some trouble for not paying my last bill on time (stupid ATMs!). Credit is more like a lifeline, coz my real money needs to make more money for me.

...

Atomfilms rock!

Tidbits 1

2005-08-25T11:01:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, I get a remark that invariably strikes a chord even if I'm not sure it was really meant for me or not. You would think that of all the things that we hear, read or overhear during the day that one remark would be snuffed out.

At the end of the day, though, it doesn't matter. Just laugh.

A Day at A Freezer

2005-08-12T20:09:00.000+08:00

A while ago, we went on a road trip to Cavite to see our new frozen and chilled warehouse. Man, was that place far.

We were supposed to go out at 1pm but circumstances prevented us and we left at 230pm. traffic and weather was bad and we made one wrong turn but we pretty much made it, altough a bit late at 4pm.

We toured the facility wearing large parkas and construction helmets which made us look like Eskimo. We went into the chiller but not in the freezer coz the light was busted. The temperature there is enough to break your ear off!

We didn't stay long, though, since the trafffic and uncooperative weather would very much ensure that we'll be arriving late. It's too far away to visit regularly (unlike our current warehouse), so you'll have to drag me bodily if you want me to go there.

I made a quick stop after to Haven to meet Jason and Lor, but didn't stay long. Now I sleep.

Bowling for Snoop

2005-08-12T10:58:00.000+08:00

We had a sort of general assembly for the company yesterday and we had Pilita Corales (spell check?) over for that. She was part of an ad campaign we had and she graciously sang for us to liven our event. They also announced the new company name change and gave out our bonuses (whopee!).

There was also a bowling event after as part of our anniversary celebrations and it was a basic event for us. This meant everyone drank themselves and fooled around. We won third place, I think for the men and second for the women. Next up: Extreme Adventure Challenge and Extreme Cooking Contest! :)

Of holding meetings and somesuch

2005-08-05T18:51:00.000+08:00

We just had a meeting with our new distribution partner a while ago. This was the first big meeting I organized myself and it was a great relief when everything went well.

Well until the food arrived. Before the food arrived, everyone looked intent on discussing issues and other seemingly important stuff but when it arrived (New York's Finest 18" and a Four Cheese 18") everyone got talking at the same time. I myself was intent on finishing the discussions and getting all the talk out of the way before eating, which led me to getting almost no food at all. Oh well.

But basically the meeting went well without bumps and we got a lot of things done. And as usual in these things, we bring more work out of the meeting than in it.

I guess it's true what they say about partnerships. Partnerships are like mergers and in turn are like marriage. Lotsa bumps in the start but they'll smooth themselves out in the end. Coz you know it will work. But what do I know about this stuff, ne?

...

See work can be fun.

St. Ignatius Day

2005-08-01T13:53:00.000+08:00

Doesn't affect me but St. Ignatius does love them Ateneans. ;)

Free Stuff!

2005-07-30T14:20:00.000+08:00

We had a sales conference yesterday to welcome a new partner into the business. we had it at Edsa Shang last night. They call it a con probably because it "cons" people. :) Kidding. It's actually a party more than anything else.

I have long realized that my company likes celebrating. Not that I'm complaining. From the point of view of the partner we welcomed into the fold, it seems wasteful. Of course they aren't as big as us and so need to pinch the purse.

I got a bag of goodies from yesterday. Had some cheese, some shirts a jacket. All good with a great band Silk, great food and wine and cheese. Also great company although there were only two of us in our team there.

I left early coz I'm KJ and to get some rest as well.

Find the Hidden Mickey!

2005-07-27T18:33:00.000+08:00

Don't know where the Hidden Mickey is? Click here!

Entrepreneur's Networking Night

2005-07-27T10:54:00.000+08:00

I went to the 50th Networking Night of Entrepreneur Magazine yesterday at Fiesta San Miguel at Dusit. I invited a couple of Pergola friends but only got half-hearted responses so I decide to go by myself alone. I thought it would be a good exercise, to meet new people.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I saw some friends there who were from the same college org as I. They were also budding entrepreneurs (thank god, since veterans may be hard to get along with) like me. There was Francis del Rosario, Ter Guanio, Sheryl So and Jayvee, the investing partner of Jonas Gonzales, another batchmate from college. You'll prolly see us in the next issue, though we hope not. :)

The events were:

Snacks and drinks are served
A word from the sponsors.
Sales pitch, where different people advertise their stuff
Q&A with the speakers (which was surprising since there really were no "speakers" in this affair, which what was normally expected)

The event would have been great if not for the noisy crowd behind us and the inability of the resource speakers to answer some of the questions satisfactorily. Though, it is still a good venue for meet-ups and great freebies! I never knew Men's Health was just like FHM, though with more sense!

Later days!

SONA

2005-07-24T00:48:00.000+08:00

Damn SONA is making me miss work. Normally, I would be okay with the Presidential State of the Nation Address (vanilla speech at the best) but they had a surprise announcement that work is suspended on Monday.

This political move left us hanging at work since most of us already have mapped out the next week. Heck, our month end sales cutoff also falls on the Monday so that really screws us up. If they had announced this earlier. Also the local bourse is offline on Monday, hence I can't trade as well. At least I can stay out late today and tomorrow, as I am doing now.

Forum Trouble

2005-07-20T15:15:00.000+08:00

I've had recent trouble in the Edge of Rokugan forums. Hope everyone involved sorts this out.

If this blog had a mood indicator, I would be poignant.

Reading Material

2005-07-19T15:54:00.000+08:00

I've embarked on reading lots of stuff to stop becoming a couch potato. Here's some of what I've finished.

1984 by George Orwell
A lecture on extreme socialism. Doublethink is the new black.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
If I had any doubt of Orwell thought of socialism and power, now I had no doubt about it. Made me think on how to apply it in real life, hehe.

Current exploits:

American Gods
Made me think about the stories in Sandman about the Gods of past.

Future expeditions:

Harry Potter: last two books
so sue me..

Song of Fire and Ice
I'm reserving this for the holidays, when I'll have time to finish the saga quickly.

Polo Shirts v2

2005-07-15T14:45:00.000+08:00

Just saw that some of the sales guys are now wearing pastel striped shirts, which I started wearing a few weeks ago. Talk about fashion deja vu...

Product Review Site

2005-07-11T12:49:00.000+08:00

I have been mulling this idea for a while. I'm going to put up a blog that rates all the new stuff we have around that we try, be it food, restos, movies, and what not.

Got any thoughts on this? It'll be unsponsored so you can be free to spout your opinion as you wish.

New PC Day

2005-07-08T16:18:00.000+08:00

There was a time in the office when my PC was the newest one from everyone else's. It even surpassed the laptops they had at the time.

...

Today, everybody else who has a desktop just got upgraded (we change PCs every three years). Now, my PC is the oldie. Everyone else got flat screen monitors, optical mice, sleek keyboards and dvd drives.

La lang.

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!

2005-07-04T17:51:00.000+08:00

I had some freetime yesterday so I thought I'd catch that quirky British film I never watched the other week: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Dropped by Sta.Lu and I see that there were only one other person in the theatre. I should have known it would be this good, since Robinsons's East struck it off it's watch list after only a week.

The effects were good but the book really doesn't do very well as a film. No amount of rework can give a story to this trilogy and it has too many loose ends for the normal fun.

Alas, British humor was either incomprehensible or just not present, you decide. The best thing about the film was the dolphins.

Paalam at salamat sa pusit!

Polo Shirts

2005-06-30T09:46:00.000+08:00

Here in the office, it was common practice once to wear long-sleeved shirts for the males, especially in our old office. For me, I only wore short sleeved polos since it was very impractical for me to wear those since I commute.

Ever since we switched to the new office, most of the guys I see now wear short sleeved shirts (except Sales since they need to be presentable to the customers). I can't help but wonder if I had anything to do with this phenomena.

Maybe the change in office made people aware the need to be more current in their clothing. just a thought.

Some News

2005-06-29T14:41:00.000+08:00

1) Had an NDE last night. The gas attendant pumping gas into the jeep I was on was smoking.

2) I went to a Ministop Seminar a while ago. The people were very helpful and the terms are pretty good (free help on most stuff like marketing).

3) Gateway is the new Kolehiyala haven with easy MRT access from both the Manila U belt and Miriam and St. Paul.

4) The playtest PDF for L5R's new base set is up and the rules changed drastically even from Diamond to Lotus. I wonder how old players will see this... They did add a lot of strong stuff in though, so that's a plus.

5) Tha's Hoht!

In the front lines

2005-06-27T13:19:00.000+08:00

After running a tournament (my last) in L5R in the afternoon, a visit to MD's PC shop ended in an "adventure." Suffice it to say that it left me disillusioned among other things.

The New Guy

2005-06-22T17:32:00.000+08:00

We got a new guy on board at work. He's the younger brother of a batchmate from Pisay and has the same org as me. He'll do everything that I am doing now (I'll be getting some other person's jobs afterwards)

/end snippet

That's sick!

2005-06-21T18:04:00.000+08:00

Yup, i was sick from June 16 through June 18. Those were the worse days of my life, but not because I was sick. :(

Everyday is a new day

2005-06-15T08:49:00.000+08:00

Jason urged me to post again and here I am.

...

Watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith over the long ID12 weekend and it certainly was a good film. Not great but it really did pull the audiences. Gateway was packed by people who wanted to watch even the latest and last show, theatres filling to the brim.

The film was good because it had something for the men (big guns, Jolie stunts) and women (a quirky comedic marriage fix up). It even had a plot twist of sorts in the end (but not as unexpected as some of the other better movies). Batman is today and I wonder how it will do as well.

...

MD's net shop is now open and we (the Fuku Clan) paid a visit after Motz didn't show up at his place. Everyone agrees that the shop shows promise since it has no competition in the area and is near the newly opened Sienna gate. Expansion is inevitable, though the space might be a problem. They also have an eatery beside it where we can host some of our tourneys.

...

I am now really trying to juggle several things like some personal goals (finding a business), hobbies (Champion of Urami, Cards for a Cause) and work (which stops me from doing stuff during, well, work hours). I really need that break which I take once a month.

Other news:

1) Bought new shades at the sale in Cybermall. Polo Jeans for 1500PHP! Will buy some extra threads, Van Hausen
2) Fixing sked to fit in a seminar on Ministop Franchising. Also looking inot Julie's. Money will not be a proble.
3) Now got net access at work outside of the corporate environment, making me able to have net radio!
4) Bought AC and am now ipit.
5) Blut blut blut!

Baguio Beens!

2005-05-17T10:17:00.000+08:00

What a delayed post!

Last May 6, me and Allan's Car Contingent of Team Manila went to the Kotei up in the beutiful City of Pines Baguio! I was a judge in the event while the others were going to compete in the Nationals for L5R.

The ride was a mere 6 hours even with stops. We arrived just a tad after lunch and had some food at this Mongolian place. Allan and the others checked in the Hotel Veniz and we went to visit the venue and gaming place. Oddly enough, it was on top of a housewares store and if you weren't a regular, you wouldn't know that such a place even existed!

Likea lot of gaming places, this was an internet cafe, hobby gaming area and smoking lounge rolled into one. I liked the centralised airconditioning of the entire city.

We stayed at Irvin's "chomchog" and was together with Raichu and Conci. There was a pre-Kotei tourney and oddly enough only Manilenios joined. It ended in 11pm and we were exhausted and hungry. We passed by Chowking of all places to get some take-out.

The foolish Khan and Raichu were up all night playtesting so were drained for the Kotei next day. It showed in their standings. Thank God everyone had a good time, though many were disappointed that there were more lowlanders that trekked to this event than locals.

Another day of exhaustion. Judging events and answering rules questions is no walk on the beach!

The next day, Sunday, we cleaned up and left aboard the Allan Dee Van. We bought some "pasalubong" like strawberry wine and Good Shepherd Ube Jam and went off in the sunset...

Rememorable experiences:

1) Conci losing his shoe sole at the first day of our trip
2) Rai's Bloodspeaker meals
3) Monks and babes amidst the Ube Jam buyers
4) Cool Baguio Air
5) Novelty Songs on the way home

David Carradine

2005-05-04T09:58:00.000+08:00

Apparently I'm not A Don Johnson or Mark Hamill type of guy coz mikko says I am a:

David Carradine type of guy!

I'm a Don Johnson type of guy

2005-05-02T20:20:00.000+08:00

But I maybe more of a Mark Hamill type of guy, if were talking movies. Looking for a Phoebe Cates type of girl. Hehe.

This is the third and last day of a three day Labor Day weekend. Not good since I needed to work today to finish some stuff. And you might ask who wants to work on a holiday? Me! The holiday ruined my work schedule and I had to do extra work last Friday.

I also did the L5R tourney this Saturday as Kotei practice for everybody else. I also had to finish the plans for my lodging and transpo to Baguio. Which reminds me, Baguio this weekend! Good ole cold weather away from scorching Manila.

I also need to do some iFreedom work. Seminar this Wednesday.

So that leaves me with crunching down three days for work. And other stuff. A challenge I am upto. Post ya later!

The Hotness

2005-04-29T08:28:00.000+08:00

Man, it is uber hot outside! The main reason I go to work now is to enjoy the 23ºC we have here. It's almost too hard to go out in that scorching el niño heat.

I haven't posted in a while because I've been very, very busy. I'm looking for a new place to stay AND trying to promote iFreedom AND work on top of that. I need some rest, badly, but there is no rest for the wicked. Ü

Ciao.

Run for the money

2005-04-24T23:00:00.000+08:00

I did a run for the Kotei-pre-reg today. There were several to dos for today:

Find those damn imitation iPod earplugs
Collect Kotei pre-reg
Check who was going to the Kotei
Update the blog.

So am doing the last right now. FYI, I don't have total control of the home PC so updating at weekends can be erratic.

Couldn't find the time for the first since I didn't have a sample of those white 'plugs. I was searching yesterday and only got a sample look at them when Mikey brought his iPod. No time to buy though.

Also did the rest. My trip went:

HH >> Spiral (which was closed) >> Galle >> ATC

Kapagod! Spiral was closed and so stupid of me not to go to Galle first and hand the poster for the Kotei to Ron or any of the Spiral boys there. Idiota!

ATC was also fruitless since I should have known that they would either be too stingy to pay right up or too unsure if they were going.

Kotei is next week so i have to:

Read the rules
Get back on the Rules List
Fix my lodging and transpo
Deposit the Kotei money in the bank

Pipe dream

2005-04-23T22:48:00.000+08:00

I thought I was not going to the tourney to collect for the Kotei today. Ended up I did, since the seminar I went to was at the wrong time (d'oh!) and I arrived too late. Like a several hours. So I stopped by the shop just to check up.

I proceeded to the Pipe where Gaeb, Pat and Po were. I just missed Jon when I arrived. i only played once, as part of the test group since the Pipe was still having problems running DotA. Jon arrived later and Lekkie didn't show due to a headache.

We played a few games and *gasp* it is 1 am already! So the date for this post is wrong...

The Ruben Dilemma

2005-04-22T10:21:00.000+08:00

Last night, all these meetings kept me from going to Haven. Sheesh.

I arrived there and lo and behold! Ruben was there together with Gaeb. We haven't been eating out together the past few days because he was taking a hiatus from Toei animation. His boss told him he needed to learn more of the Toei style.

Gaeb and I advised he just go on his own since he makes such great art commish for others. So the advice is:

Go to cons to promote yourself
Get a teaching position at UP or somewhere else
Continue commission work to sustain himself financially.

He has a great site HERE!

We did this amidst a failed fried dimsun run to Pao Tsin at Ever and the eventual dinner at Gaeb's place. Again, Gaeb reminded me that I should not have missed the Splash thing. Oh well, another event that will haunt me for not going.

Some of the interesting topics we talked about were hentai pornography companies in the phils., gas station oil raiding, Nine and publishing art books.

Blog ang Mundo

2005-04-21T13:05:00.000+08:00

I've received a couple of emails that some of my Friendsters are making blogs on that site. That's kind of a late entry but Friendster is one of the more widespread networks around.

Still, I think I will still sit here on Blogger for a while.

Jason is out of time so now would be a great time to wreck havok on his LJ.

And sorry for the cheesy title but you should admit it is funny even if a tad overused.

Obligatory Post

2005-04-20T16:49:00.000+08:00

If you've noticed, I try to post everyday. Today is no different. Except I have nothing of substance to talk about.

I went to Bento.com a while back looking for Japanese dishes. And because most of them require a lot of skill to prepare, not to mention a lot of non-native ingredients, I left.

I'm also prepping for the bizplan I'll make for the food thing.

Also, if you know of a way to turn off the damn shutter noise the new SE phones have (K500 especially), tell me. The damn thing is just too noisy!

Games of Strategy

2005-04-19T09:38:00.000+08:00

I have been reading a textbook the past few days (hey, I still find textbooks interesting) and it is very enlightening. It talks about how people interact during games and other similar scenarios.

I've learned a lot in the little I read, like how to predict and explain behavior when people interact for some sort of gain. And it doesn't only apply to gaming but to business and politics as well.

I'll finish it and see if I can apply this effectively to the stuff I do.

Biznus

2005-04-18T11:40:00.000+08:00

I talked to jason over ym yesterday and we formulated a plan for a business. It would involve food but we can't reveal anything else until it passes through IPO. Jason thinks it will redefine Esteban Abada. And I agree.

Ka-ching!

Kotei is near

2005-04-17T22:10:00.000+08:00

I am currently finishing off the Kotei details, being the Manila contact and all. Went to Haven yesterday in lieu of Splash and collected from the shop. I also got the Kotei details of people at the tourney there. Travel plans, lodging and ETD, that sort of thing. No Kubo last night as well.

The weekend was mainly a rest day from the outing. Outings are so tiring, don't you think? Went to Gale to do the same but very few people there.

I'll be pursuing the VoIP thing this week. Oh, more soap tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Final Destination: Laiya

2005-04-15T19:32:00.000+08:00

Today is Friday, April 15, 2005. Actually no today is Sunday but that is beside the point.

I just woke up, escaping the late night drinking session yesterday that ended up in a political debate on the state of the Philippines. This usually happens when drinking gets too long and topics run out. Oddly enough, it was the Singaporean expat that was defending the Philippines and one of the warehouse supes going against him. I snuck out to sleep since our boss went to bed anyways. We were waiting for the GM to arrive, you see. He arrived at 12AM, when everyone was asleep already.

i had breakfast at 830 am and I was surprised that I still wasn't the last one up. Normally, people still get up quite early even during outings due to us still being "in office" and the natural habit of warehouse guys to be up by 6am. *shrug*

We had the morning swim with the 'mates kids. Some shoremen tried selling pearls but no fish though. We would have had some of those for "pulutan" We had a firepit for cooking stuff in, you see. More drinking ensues but we were already out of booze. Back to Wam! chugging. Beach drinking is so much fun, *hic*. :)

Left after the buffet lunch (every meal is buffet style here), around 2pm. Traffic on the way back was terrible! That's Lipa City to you. The expressway wasn't better and Southwoods to Alabang was a crawl. Got back at 630pm and promptly went home to rest.

I was supposed to be going to Splash the next day with the pisay bunch but my sunburnt body couldn't take anymore exertion after hours at sea and kayaking. Missed something great but I would not have enjoyed it if I came.

Edit: found out you can post retroactively. sweet, posting while at the beach

beach volley!

ah, the comfy swing chairs..

Viewing tower, was off-limits though for some reason..

What I did this summer

2005-04-14T22:10:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday, we were off to our teambuilding and convention seminar. It was actually an outing but that was what my boss used in the emails sent out to the other departments. Heh.

I met was going there with a couple of the expats and met at EDSA Shang. We left at 8:30 am and picked up another officemate on the way south. Even if it was a far ways off, we didn't get lost. The last two kms was a pain though. The road was unpaved and full of rocks, and here we were riding a Civic with thin treads! I was actually sad for the car. :( We arrived at 11:30.

The place was great though! The sleeping quarters were comfortable with their own baths and the dining room had a constant seabreeze, being in the second floor. We did some kayaking, swimming, and of course drinking!

The resort's name was Balai sa Laiya and the place is quiet, with very few other people around. We rented the entire place to ourselves as well so we had the whole resort to enjoy in. I kind of missed the bustle and ogling since there were no one else on the beach but the peace and calm was a nice consolation. There were even massages but I didn't get one, unfortunately.

Btw, I had a bungalow for myself by some quirk of room assignment. Most of the other guys, especially the warehouse people, shared three to a room. The normal room was for two people. Neat, huh? But don't tell anyone.. *smiley*

I stayed here.

Dining area.

Hammock. My fave hangout.

The Balikbayan Box

2005-04-13T08:30:00.000+08:00

Last night, we had a dinner for my aunt who came back from Chicago. All my relatives from the fatherside were there. The most important part is my Ninong from old was there and we talked about business stuff like my current company, his efforts for building his distributorship and so on.

Which I really enjoyed since I have long been looking for a mentor-like person for the business I am planning. After we left, he agreed to bring me to this talk on VoIP and what it offers. If you've been reading around lately, this area of telecom was dergulated recently. this being cheaper to IDD, calls will become cheaper around the globe. We'll be going later to the talk.

The other thing is that my 7K problem is solved! Sort of. I just got Benjamins from my aunt to pay my salary loan but of course I won't be paying off the loan. I'll just keep the money in the bank until needed.

..

Department outing tomorrow, so no blogging. I will take pics and use the Palm to record events.

Sabon na naman!

2005-04-12T17:16:00.000+08:00

I just got some sort of reprimanding a while back. Screwed up again apparently. Though when I checked, I was correct and the reason was due to external circumstances. Which is the hard part of my job since a lot of what I do are due to things outside company control.

-sigh-

Again, back to work.

7000

2005-04-12T12:58:00.000+08:00

A trusted friend has an investment that I can participate on. The problem is, my money is in different accounts which I do not want to close. Hence, I need to keep them at the maintaining balance. So my short term goal is to get 7K by July. Not that hard, but still a challenge with the schedule I have.

Now back to work!

Willing to work for work

2005-04-11T13:03:00.000+08:00

As odd as it may seem, but I feel I need to expand my knowledge and not just rake in the cash. It'll be useful later on, as it will give me options and give me more things that I can do.

Hence the title.

Also, fearless forecast: the internet will be free in 5 years. Just like TV and radio is now.

Saturday

2005-04-10T21:35:00.000+08:00

I was at Hobby Haven for the Kotei prep. I just wanted to chill and amazingly, the attendance was great. Maybe they were expecting something to happen? Well it didn't!

So I went at 6ish to meet with Rolly and Marion, Gaeb and Pat for dinner at Gateway. The mall was okay but a little light on shops, as Pat said. It was easy to get to, though, since it is only 20 minutes HH and was attached to LRT2. May just make our gimmick list since it is close to everyone and accessable thru the MRT as well.

...

That night, we played L5R at Rai's place. Good thing they drove by with the BangVan and I didn't need to commute anymore. Highlights included:

1) Uploading the Fuku Kubo Challenge pics.
2) Fuku trying to find Pindot by checking friendster one by one.

We went home at 5, and didn't take any booze at all!

Friday

2005-04-10T20:31:00.000+08:00

9ish am

Arrived at McDo Ever to meetup with the gang to play DotA at 9ish am. Cast includes Jonas, Po, Chico, me then later Pat and I invited Flip as well. This was going to be the soft opening of a shop so there will be free gaming. The owner was a former student of Po. Po ironically was the last to arrive.

It was a great place and besides a few bugs the PCs ran smoothly, giving us up to 4 or 5 complete games. There was also free pesto bread sticks and C2. Yum! (do people still say yum?)

It also turns out there was this six degrees thing happening there. Coy, the owner was Po's student, Jonas' mate from ARISE and his next door neighbor, an orgmate of us three and Flip's highschool friend. We still played DotA after at Blueskies after 4am, when they had to fix the PCs.

Pic 1: The gaming centre, Enter the Pipeline (or something like that)

Pic 2: DotA addicts anonymous, Po is at back. Jonas with C2 cheers and Ruben at centre. Chico chilling.

Other pics:

The Pipe from inside
Free food!

After a game, Ruben got sleepy and I was noticing that there was no coherence in our gaming vs. Chico and Pat's. They play often and know how to work together well. I, on the other hand, suck and want to try out different heroes. I wasn't having fun during the last game and so I quit. I am taking an indefinte hiatus from gaming for now to fix my finances as well. It was 8 when I left and hanged out at Hobby Haven.

Miko, alat!

Cyberbrains

2005-04-06T12:15:00.000+08:00

I was watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex yesterday. It was the last episode where the Laughing Man was finally caught, allegedly.

I was thinking about cyberbrains, making a part of your brain connected to the net or being able to sync it much like a Palm Pilot. No more forgotten memories, no more appointments to miss. Real time chatting and info retrieval. All the things you could do with the net and more.

The problem would be the same problems PCs have today. Upgrades, viruses, brain-hackers and so on. Imagine being able to play MMORPGs or the future equivalent while in the train in the gym. Neat!

and real time blogging. -sigh-

Burninate!

2005-04-06T12:09:00.000+08:00

I was going down from my office at CyberMall when I saw a lot of people were gathered around the mall 2nd and first floors. Apparently, the local Chicken Bacolod had a griller accident though this was quickly corrected by the local fire brigades. Fire Chickens, mmmm.

And this was at around the same time Citibank had their fire drill in the other building. Good thing it was only a small incident and apparently nobody knew about it in the office. Exciting and dangerous shit man.

April 5

2005-04-05T13:09:00.000+08:00

I'm here at work even though it is my birthday. Tons of work to do that stops me from taking the day off. And why am I blogging you say? That is the mystery..

I'm planning to have dinner with the family since my aunt gave me a couple of GCs to Gerry's. I don't think it might pull through, though.

...

How unfortunate for me to have a mundane birthday. It is squeezed between two great weekends though so that works for me. :)

I have blogged!

2005-04-04T13:24:00.000+08:00

Some background first:

I play Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game (L5R CCG). But you say I've already quit since I've been selling everything L5R I have lately? Well I have quit, holding onto cards, that is. Just too costly for me. So I'll continue playing still once in a while, borrowing decks and cards here and there from my friends. But I will be leaving behind having cards, judging small events and all the little nuances of gaming. I will still be there for the big events and still hang out at the shop.

Ah, the obligatory ad! The shop is Hobby Haven, located at Katipunan. kind of hard to find if you don't know the place but once you get there its easy enough. Populated by easy going gamers that know that the purpose of all of these is to enjoy and have fun with friends and not cut their throat up in tourneys.

I still maintain the local L5R site, the Edge of Rokugan. Kind of. You see I have also divested myself from most of the nitty gritty of the site and just let the mods do their work like they're supposed to do. the nationals are next month and a new expansion set for the game is coming next month which is why the boards are so active these days

…

I'm also looking for something that makes money. Like everyone else. Man is not meant to live on bread alone. But if bread = cash, then that's alright. I've put money in stocks but with the market doing a bear run, I am really thinking of getting out. A friend is offering a pretty good place to park my money for the meanwhile so I'm taking him up on that.

A business is what I am looking for though. I have several in mind but I need to make a business plan first.

…

I also play DotA, a map for Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, with my friends from Pisay. We bash each others heroes and generally have a stomping good time. Unless your side is losing, that is. I like the game since it promotes teamwork (I hope so) and is easy to play, even for non-PC gamers.

I'll write more on this in the future

…

The day job is a planner. I lost steam. I'll post more tomorrow.