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Last Day of The Year [Wednesday, December 31, 2003]
A Welcome Reaction [Sunday, December 28, 2003]
It's Over Already?! [Friday, December 26, 2003]
Red Wine and Movies [Thursday, December 25, 2003]
It's that time of the year again [Thursday, December 25, 2003]
Finally, Some Rest [Wednesday, December 24, 2003]
Worth All The Trouble [Saturday, December 20, 2003]
How Unfortunate [Tuesday, December 16, 2003]
Instant Noodles [Saturday, December 13, 2003]
Borderline Personality [Thursday, December 11, 2003]
The Big Day [Wednesday, December 10, 2003]
And so it begins [Saturday, December 6, 2003]
Talent-less Fool [Tuesday, December 2, 2003]
It's that time of the year again. Another year comes to pass, dreams that were not fulfilled passed on to the next, and those accomplished goals now have higher levels of satisfaction.
Am I gonna write a year in review entry?
I don't think so, well, not just yet.
Might as well illustrate how I spent the last day of the year which is best summed up in two words, No Sleep.
Worked started the day before and ended this morning, after which a couple of beers were wasted at Sizzling Stop in Eastwood, Libis. Had this thought since the night before to visit the mall and check out what's new. Unfortunately, it was still too early, so I decided to visit my cousins in Pasig. A couple of hours later, I left and headed off to Megamall.
The mall opened early, and a lot of people have already done their groceries for any festivities they were going to have this night. I, on the other hand, was on a mission, to find myself this dang MP3 player which I have only been able to see in two stores, one in Megamall and another in Shangrila.
Anyway, it was so damn hard to find it. Portable MP3 players are not yet that popular here as everyone's gadget of choice is a cellular phone, which is certainly not the case for me, as I only use my cellular phone these days as a clock and alarm.
I walked back and forth malls, finally ending up at the store in Megamall and asking them when they will have them in stock. The sales lady hardly took notice of me at first, but when I asked her when the iRiver 390T (256MB model) would be available, the tides changed in my favor and my inquiries were attended to. I mean, if a customer comes into a store looking for a certain product and giving out the exact product number, you'd have to entertain him, right? The saleslady said the next shipment should come in next year, prolly the first week of January. She said they would notify me via SMS once they have it in stock. Good enough, but what I really wanted was to go home with one of those hanging around my neck. But like I said, good enough.
Proceeded next to my usual routine, CD shopping, which is the only commodity I burn my salary on. Videogames came first. Purchased copies of Simpson's Hit and Run and Beyond Good and Evil, good games I've read and heard about. Next were audio cds. Still no Thursday's War All the Time or any of the albums I've been looking for, so I settled for Red Hot Chili Pepper's Greatest Hits and Audioslave. Last bunch of cds I checked out were for video (VCD or DVD). Same old, same old. Could not find copies of American History X, Se7en, Memento, and Pulp Fiction (I should make a list for this) but I was confident I would be able to secure a copy of Kill Bill Volume I. To my surprise, there were no DVD copies of the said movie. Surprising, since I checked the same stores last week and they had more than two copies of the movie. Anyway, I had to settle with a VCD copy, I still have to see it, but I am not as happy as I would have been if I got the DVD. One other thing, when I was in Megamall, I was holding on to a copy of Gangs of New York but I let go and said to myself that there would be a copy in Tower Shangrila. As luck had it, there was no copy and at this point my body was already weak from walking around and I did not consider walking all the way back to Megamall to get the copy.
CDs. Nothing but CDs. I soon as I buy myself on a digital camera, I'd take before and after shots of my CDs so you'd get a better picture (pun intended) of what am saying.
This is all for now. If in the mood, I'd prolly write a few interesting articles tomorrow. More interesting than this utter crap, that is.
Happy New Year!!! Be Sure you have 5 fingers on each hand after the night's festivities, okay?!
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How am I gonna do this? How do you expect a guy who has no care about the world around him, be a little more empathetic/sympathetic in a conversation? Am not good at faking things. Bah, I'll find a way somehow.
Someone actually reacted to something I posted here a few days back regarding Tim Burton. Don't know who he is, but I'd like to say thank you and apologies for the wrong information. As far as I knew, Tim Burton was still involved in Batman Forever and I thought it was still as director, but no. In Forever, he was only a producer and thankfully for the fourth installment of the series, he was not involved in any way, as everyone knows how crappy Batman and Robin was.
I really like the morning schedule better. With that schedule, am able to optimize all the time I have unlike this night schedule. Oh, bring me back to the promised land.
This is quite unusual for me, I have nothing else to say. Oh well, it's off to the PS2 for me now. I can hear it calling for me.
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Damn, that was fast. Those three days-off passed by so quickly. Now I have to go back to work later on in the day.
I guess it only for the best, am bored out of my wits here. Have watched all except two of the movies I enumerated here before. Over at the PS2, FFX-2 is more annoying than it is entertaining due to it's multiple endings and completion percentage. Am almost at the point where I'd just finish the bloody game and move on to Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Another thing is the wonderful depression, never failing to come around at the most unexpected moments. God, I need a life.
Woke up quite early, around 6 in the morning. Good thing staying in bed let me sleep again until 10 in the morning. Could have been better but what can I do if I slept before midnight the night before. I just hope I'd be able to stay awake the whole night. Well, I don't really see any problem in that. Staying awake is one thing, thinking is another.
Managed to squeeze in the rest of the movies, Bad Santa and Basic. Was supposed to watch Ocean's Eleven after lunch but when I checked out the time, it was past three already. The VCD of The Grudge was borrowed and that basically explains why I was not able to watch them.
I wonder if the guys who created Reindeer Games had something to do with Bad Santa since there are a lot of similarities between them, especially a gun-downed Santa lying face-flat on the ground. I never heard of this movie before, and since there was a copy lying around the house, I just decided to watch it. I can't think of words to describe this movie, and I do not know if I liked it or not.
The plot of Basic is sort of wild and crazy but I liked the twist. Another good movie I just found lying around in the house. Come to think of it, I could have been the one who bought it in the first place.
This sounds pathetic. I guess I don't really have any sense of what is good and not as my opinions are all over the place and are easily swayed by outside forces.
Might as well shut myself up and check out my friends.
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Nice. Only a few people came by today, which is certainly a good thing as I have no idea who some of them are. Don't even know all of my godchildren, my mom just says so. Amusing stuff, that's the way things work down in this place (country?).
The red wine we had for lunch tasted funny, more on the grapes than the alcohol content. I liked it better though. Yes, I am uneducated and unsophisticated when it comes in determining the quality of wine, albeit even food. Need to drink more I guess.
Despite all the distractions, I was still able to squeeze in three movies today. These were Edward Scissorhands, The Last Samurai, and The Haunted Mansion.
Tim Burton is truly a genius when it comes to creating dark fascinating worlds and characters. We have the first three Batman movies, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and Sleepy Hollow. Edward Scissorhands is no exception. Am hitting myself right now trying to extract reasons as to why I have never heard of this movie before. Johnny Depp really lives the role of the character he portrays and I think it is first evident in this movie.
Again, I find myself slitting my wrists, shamefully eating words I have spit out before but never came to do. The Last Samurai was another movie on my see-first-at-the-cinema list but due to unforgivable circumstances (Metro Manila Film Fest), I had no choice but to give in, again. It's a good thing I won't have to resort doing the same for LOTR: ROTK. Needless to say, the movie is great. Loved the plot and how the story and characters developed. The war sequences were enjoyable as it almost a first to see the magnificent samurais in battle, with full armor and all. I am going to watch this movie again when it (finally) shows in theaters.
In the opposite side of the spectrum, we have The Haunted Mansion, a movie I would have avoided at all costs at the cinemas and reserve only for home viewing, if ever given the chance that is. After seeing the movie, my decision is unchanged. The movie is entertaining alright, but you've seen these things over and over again in different movies. The ghosts themselves look like they were ripped off The Frighteners. The plot snatched off from The Haunted but ironed out a bit as it is more straightforward. What would you expect could possibly be new and revolutionary about this film.
An entertaining movie round-up I hope. 3-4 movies left on the list. Got to work faster.
So this is Christmas. Am just thankful for whatever.
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It's that time of the year again
Merry Christmas to all!
I wonder if anything special would happen this year. Hmmm...Let's just see.
I've been checking out what these guys have been doing over the past few weeks and am just in awe at what they have accomplished. Imagine a webcomic about videogames accumulating cash donations of more than 23,000 dollars and well over a truckload of toys to be donated to a Children's Hospital. Incredible ain't it? You should check this Child's Play out. Who ever said videogamers are anti-social trigger-happy people?
A day gone by and I have only watched two movies, X2 and The Phone. I hate it when am at home but can't do anything that I want to do at a given moment. I doubt if I could even do that today. I really don't like being disturbed while watching movies. This is the reason why I love (survive) watching movies in theaters alone and why I have yet to watch the Starwars: Attack of the Clones VCD that I bought a year ago. (I want to watch all five movies straight with no interruptions.)
Watching the DVD marks only the second time I have seen X2. It would be foolish to say that I liked watching it the first time in the cinema as I certainly loved it. Seeing it again on DVD only made things sweeter. As they say, sweeter the second time around. Nightcrawler rocks, I got excited the first time I found out he was going to be in the sequel. I'd keep an eye for any indications of a sequel (X3) when am online. You can bet on that.
Suspense is the main thing that kept me hooked on The Phone. The story was kind of dragging, with nothing much happening until the last 30 to 45 minutes of the film. I guess my expectations about this movie were too high in the first place which explains why I am mildly disappointed by it. Now, were is that copy of The Grudge I saw lying around a few days back? Hmmmm...
Ack. Have to go to mass, not that I really want to, but because I have to. A show of good faith.
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3 days off. This is the first time since being moved to the night shift that we will actually have a "day-off" and not just one night-off where we'd have to go back to work the very next day.
Spent the first night sleeping. Got home around 11 in the morning yesterday and slept by 1 in the afternoon, and man, I can tell you that I slept. I only woke up a few minutes ago. Now I am starved.
Two more days to go, one of which is Christmas, though I know, nothing special would happen on that day, it's the same thing every year.
So how am I going to spend this three days off? Well, what would you expect from me? Of course, I'd either be watching movies or playing videogames, those are among the things that make my life worthwhile.
I've already got a ton of movies lined up. There's Basic, The Phone, The Grudge, Bad Santa, Haunted Mansion, Edward Scissorhands, the original Ocean's Eleven, and The Last Samurai. Wow, seven movies, and that's just the list of those I have not seen yet. I recently bought DVDs of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Matrix, and X2, DVDs I haven't seen yet, only browsed through some of the special features in them. Come to think of it, I haven't watched the LOTR: FOTR DVD that I have bought before.
Nothing new for videogames, just FFX-2 which I have not played in 6 days. Planning on purchasing copies of Starwars: Knights of the Old Republic and Anito, but it seems that my current PC specs are not up to it. I really need to upgrade this PC, video card and memory. Damn RDRAM!
Oh well, that's all I have to say from now. Will have something to say after I watch all of those movies.
One more thing, 9 days after the 15th and I still haven't finished my load on my cellular phone. Sadly, only 7.50 left. Am not really complaining as a 300 peso load lasted for more than 39 days. Truly a milestone in my life.
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Day-off the other night (night-off actually), and I really made the most out of it.
Right after work, we had a couple of beers at Whistlestop. Got home around 11 in the morning, slept for two hours and went to Megamall. I had plans to make the most of this night-off. Initially, the plan was to breeze by Greenhills to check DVD movies and then scoot over to Megamall two catch a couple of movies. Thinking it was Christmas season, I doubted if I could really breeze by Greenhills, and so I just skipped that and went straight to Megamall. Well, I did pass by Shangrila Plaza, but I do hope you get the picture.
Checked Shangrila to see if there were any iRiver MP3 players in the stores there as I am really planning to buy one. Unfortunately, there were none. Even the Creative Rhomba I saw before disappeared from the store. Tower Records was another place I visited, checking out if there were any new CDs, VCDs or DVDs. None of the VCDs I was looking for was available. For DVDs there were quite a handful, Starwars Saga Pack, X2: Xmen United, and LOTR: Two Towers. I guess I spent close to 30 minutes in the store thinking which DVD I should buy. Walked out of the store with nothing.
As usual, Megamall was packed. Good thing the upper levels were a bit more breathable than the rest. I hate crowds, which is the main reason I opted not to go to Greenhills that day.
The first thing I checked when I arrived at the mall was the movie screening times. I was shocked to see not one but two screenings for LOTR: Return of the King that night. Cinema 1 had a red carpet premier, fat chance I would ever score tickets for that one. Sloppy cinema 10 had a premier sponsored by Philips, The Philippine Star and UP College of Engineering.
This was clearly an easier deal, so I stayed in the cinema lobby for almost an hour, walking around hoping to hear someone mention tickets for sale. I was at the point where I'd do anything for tickets, double or triple the price and I'd still buy it with no questions asked. Passed by a group who were selling this one ticket. 600 pesos. I reacted only on impulse and after which, I had a ticket in my hands. Could not believe that I had a good ticket until I actually got in the cinema.
Let's not jump the gun yet. With a ticket in hand, I decided to pass by Astrovision and check the DVDs there. Purchased copies of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Matrix. Only to find out today that the Pirates DVD I got was actually Region 1. Stupid impulse.
With less than an hour to spare, I lined up and patiently waited for the cinema to let people in. Pathetic. No familiar faces at all.
Anyway, I was not able to eat prior to that and I didn't get a very comfortable seat, but I have no regrets. Loved this movie to the bone, will be watching it several more times come it's release in January. You must see it. The Wachowski brothers should have seen this movie first and learnt a couple of things on how to end a trilogy from Peter Jackson.
Promise. It's good. It's so damn fine.
The night did not end there, as I went to Millenia Cafe, a place I've never been to before which took me more than an hour before I could find it. I managed to catch Silent Sanctuary's set. EPs anyone? Met up with old friends and had a couple of drinks before finally ending the day around 7 am. Reached home by 11 in the morning with my body eager for some much needed rest. Too bad I had work later on.
Right now, my leg muscles are aching and I am really sleepy and worn out. All I can say is it's all worth it. Now, I don't have to see if I would last until the mid-January screening of LOTR: Return of The King in the Country.
I definitely need to sleep now.
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WAAAH!!! Still have no tickets for the 18th, the only date I am free from work and would be able to watch LOTR: Return of the King. Why is life so unfair?! I would gladly exchange a days salary to watch the movie. Yes, even a 6th day salary.
Came close again to getting my hands on some precious tickets. A friend of mine works for this company that has tickets for the premier night of LOTR: ROTK on the 17th, which is the perfect date, being the same release date as that of the US. Sadly, we have a mandatory sixth during that day and we must attend or else we'd have to kiss our jobs goodbye.
In a way, life is considerate enough to let me know that I am not free on the 17th even before I knew about the screening on the 17th or else I would have gone over the edge, instead of just being borderline.
Does anyone still know of tickets for the 18th?! I'd gladly sell my soul to you if you do and would not even think twice about it. PLEASE.
Work is hell. Well, it is good but the problem comes when you don't even get a rest day in 3 weeks. Rest DAY, as in one whole day.
Today, I mark a milestone in my personal life. It has been the first month wherein my load (300) lasted for atleast a month, November 15 to December 15 and with 50+ credits to go. The first time ever since I got my cellular phone way back on October 18, 2000. Remarkable.
Bah! I guess this is enough, no one even reads this stuff anyway. I was going to talk about politics and road projects and of course, how much this town sucks, but I really got to sleep now.
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I love this strip.
Just got home and am starving. The best solution: Instant Noodles. Hello Preservatives.
This marks the first full week in the night shift. Wish I could say the week is over as one is starting anew later this night.
Had my night-off on Thursday, and I stayed up the whole night finally falling asleep by 11 in the morning yesterday. I was planning on sleeping early and probably leave home early so I can watch a movie and walk around the mall. But NO, I simply could not sleep at all. Blast it, Elf and Mystic River are playing on cinemas this week.
Over at work, changes are being made and I have to say, they are pretty scary since I am affected and prone to it outright. How can you empathize with a person if you simply do not care?!?
My Christmas wish list is getting longer. The DVD copy of Pirates of The Caribbean just added to that. If I'd ever have the time, I'd make out the whole list and post it here.
AH! Can't think much right now. I need to sleep now.
IMPORTANT: If you know any tickets for LOTR: Return of the King on the 18th, PLEASE...PLEASE...PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
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It's amusing to think that your birthday starts at the office and also ends there.
Day off today, which is kind of stupid since I came home from work early this morning and have to go back to work tomorrow night. Where exactly is the "day-off" in that?
Regardless, I spent it as much as I could on sleeping. The moment I got home, I played a few rounds of videogames before sleeping. Slept from 11 in the morning until 8 in the evening. Woo! My room was pitch dark by the time I woke up since I was the only person home and none of the lights were on yet.
Right now, am planning to spend this night like I was at work, in front of the computer until the wee hours of the morning.
During work the other day, I stumbled across this link to a quiz entitled "What personality disorder do I you have?" Amused by the title itself, I took the quiz and laughed at the results.
If you are having trouble reading the text or the picture simply would not load at all, here's what it says.
BORDERLINE: You're a loose cannon emotionally, aren't ya? Your moods are all over the place, leaving people confused about what the hell your problem is. But it's as simple as this; you see things in complete black and white terms. You feel the highs and lows of the mood spectrum with passion. Thus, you are inclined to bouts of anger and rage, rather than just being a little peeved like regular people. But most of the time, you probably take out your anger on yourself by self mutilating. You need extensive psychological help, but because you are not delusional, or throwing yourself out windows, no one really notices. Sucks, don't it?
Some pretty interesting stuff ain't it. Especially since it turns out to be so true. Hahaha...
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Today is supposed to be my big day. As with any other day, I doubt something terribly special would occur.
My birthday wish is slowly turning into a birthday dream, one that is more and more unlikely to ever come true. How pathetic.
Regardless, this is still my day and let's atleast be a little cheerful.
Third day of being in the night shift. Body is slowly adapting now. After the first two days, I went straight to bed the moment I got home. Now, am able to blog here and later on have plans of playing a couple of rounds with the PS2 before sleeping. The bed is not as inviting as it used to be. Tolerance level is slowly building up. A definite positive thing in maximizing time at home.
The first three days are most eventful, to say the least.
On the first day, there was a mail about a different "grading system" since our company is performance based, this is very essential. After reading the message, I immediately told myself, I need coaching for this. A few minutes later, my supervisor called me to have a coaching session. How I wish I could always foresee the future like this.
On to the second day now. The program chair for our department was on the floor, checking out what we were doing. Unfortunate for me, he overheard me say something over the phone which is ok, but could have been done better, in a more sympathetic manner. Good thing, I still had some luck on my side, and I actually solved the problem. But the damage had already been done. Coaching again, but this time with the program chair. It was not as bad as I expected since I did do something out of the ordinary that is still worthy of some praise. Too much positive scripting but I get the picture.
The problem was I am simply too apathetic, I could not care less about anything unless it affected me directly. Selfish and unemotional.
Nothing much happened during the third day. A pretty normal day at the workplace.
Am I sleepy yet? Hmmmm...I need some maintain my sanity by playing some videogames. I mean, a videogame.
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Change of schedule at work starting tomorrow. Thinking how different the night shift would be, the pro's and con's of it and other stuff. If ever I would have the time and the correct mood, I'd write a monologue about it. Right now, I am sleepy tired, just longing for my bed, but I have not gone online the whole week and need to check out a few things first.
Life is SO grand. Again I wish we lived closer to work. Imagine the things you can do with 2 hours rather than spending it for travel time.
Hardly have the time either to write something in this journal though I do have a lot of frustrations and depressions to vent out. Unfortunately, am highly unmotivated to do so with fatigue preventing me from doing anything on the PC.
Speaking of the PC, it's starting to get real slow which may be caused by the virus I detected. A reinstallation of the operating system is the most viable option right now, problem is backing up the data.
Regardless of this, am still able to have fun, thanks mainly to the PS2. Recently finished Prince of Persia: Sands of Time which is a beautifully crafted game. Right now am pretty occupied with Final Fantasy X-2.
Movies. Movies. There are no particularly interesting movies in the cinemas last week but I was able to catch a few videos at home, namely, Matchstick Men and Spirited Away.
Spirited Away is an anime which won the award for best animated film in this year's Oscars. The movie is beautiful and enchanting if only one would get past the sub par subtitles which does not even have proper English grammar or basic sentence construction. You have to watch it with subtitles since the film's audio is only available in Japanese and Mandarin. The things you get for watching a pirated DVD.
Movies of Nicolas Cage as of late are very interesting and have a good story to it. Mentioned before that I really adored Adaptation. Matchstick Men on the other hand has an amusing plot with unexpected twists in it. Kudos to Nicolas Cage and his manager for choosing roles like this for his movies. One more thing, Alison Lohman is simply lovable in this movie, she bears this striking resemblance to Kirsten Dunst but we've already had enough of her, Alison is much more fresh.
Oh well, am bored and I have to go online now.
Why, you ask? Because I want to.
Boy I missed Jets to Brazil.
4 days to go.
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The past few work days have been utterly terrible. It's been so bad that depression is sucking me again into the deep black abyss of loneliness, the unusual feeling you get wherein you just want to be alone and could not careless what happens around you.
The past few days have been just that, and it's starting to eat up whatever confidence I was slowly building up. Am barely past zero and this has to happen. Work is starting to become a nuisance.
If you don't have an idea of what I am mumbling about, listen to this. How nice it would be if you could know you are good at something, a talent maybe, one that you are better in over most people you know and to know what the hell this so called talent is before you become food for the worms.
Chronic depression strikes again.
it's so bad that I also lost some desire to write my sentiments down on this journal. Sure, it may be because of the said depression, but more so, work is becoming such a chore and each day is consuming what little energy I have in this measly, skinny, little body.
Changing lanes to something interesting. Movies.
Had only one day off this weekend, but I was still able to squeeze three movies in and of course, some Prince of Persia playtime. Watched videos of Gremlins 1 & 2 and Out of Time. Matchstick Men and Spirited Away are patiently waiting for their time which may possibly come on Thursday, another day off.
Gremlins 1 & 2 are fun movies and bring back memories of the 1980s. There are a few scares here and there but the gremlins are undeniably and horrendously cute. One thing to note is how the gremlins appearance changed between the two movies. In the first, they all looked the same but in the second, one would be able to distinguish one gremlin from another, appearance and personality wise.
Out of Time is a new movie of Denzel Washington and is not yet released in the country. Watched it as well, as I doubt it would be one of the movies I'd watch in the theaters just because I had nothing to do. With a schedule like this (which is going to be worse soon), one has to apply selective viewing. Anyway, Out of Time does not show such a stellar Denzel performance compared to Training Day, since he is a good guy in this movie. The movie was enjoyable but is not as good as John Q. By the middle of the movie, you would have put all the pieces together.
Oh, and before I forget, I also had the chance to catch two movies at the theaters last week, Cold Creek Manor and Master and Commander: Far Side of the World.
At first mention of the title, Cold Creek Manor, you'd think it was a haunted house flick, and with no background of the said movie before watching, I assumed the same. Unfortunately, it was not. Or should I have said fortunately? I've seen enough of these kinds of movies and this one does not bring something new to the suspense thriller genre. One more thing, that was Sharon Stone?!?
I had mixed thoughts about Master and Commander: Far Side of the World. I have this uneasy feeling whenever I see the theatrical trailer. For some reason, I do not like Russell Crowe. This movie changed all that, he played the role of Captain Jack Aubrey magnificently. The movie as a whole is top notch, and as Theater Hopper said, it may garner a few nominations for the Academy Awards. I don't see why it should not. For fun factor and sheer entertainment though, Pirates of the Caribbean is still my favorite pirate/galleon movie.
I know I have a lot to say, but right now, I just can't think of any. Or if I am, am not planning on writing it down yet, as it is too good and deserves more attention.
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