And Tchan (my protoge) only realizes now who my crush and former crush is... (it's a small world)

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The rat is smaller than I thought... which only means it's faster and harder to stomp.

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"Guess which one is me?" Of course I'm also tempted to put in "Separated at birth!"

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Hmmmm, Enetation is still down as time of writing. I hope my comments get back up soon...

And today is supposedly the day I lose access to my email. Will see if Mindgate screws up one more time.

Met up with Arcina today so that I could give her the Devil May Cry artbook and get from her one of Steph's birthday gift, an Arislan manga set (don't ask what the others are). But since I arrive early, I dropped by A Different Bookstore and Powerbooks.

Finally bought House Atreides and Hosue Harkonnen as well as an extra copy of Good Omens, which I loaned to Arcina and hopefully she'll read it before the year ends. Actually ran into one of the LitSoc officers. I forgot her name. I'm bad with names, in case you haven't noticed. Got her to buy Good Omens as well so that she has something to read over the sem break. And she came there looking for a "catharsis" book. Well, Good Omens isn't catharsis but it'll cheer her up. ^^

Found out that The Vampire Chronicles is out on trade paperback, and for around P700. For the first three books in Anne Rice's series, that's not bad. Of course I outgrew Anne Rice a few years ago so I didn't buy it (in addition to being broke) but in case anyone's interested, it's there.

Arcina was at the food stalls behind the G4 ticket counter. Well, the guy she was trading episodes with was there. I sat with them, guy left, had small talk, and waited for Arcina's next trading partner. The guy eventually came and probably mistook me and Arcina for a couple since he did ask whether we were going somewhere else after the trade.

And I find out that Arcina is somewhat grounded in light of the bombings.

Arcina: Of all places, they wouldn't bomb this area.

Charles: Ummm, they did, a few years ago...

And well, Arcina's also commanded to stay away from the MRT. In my opinion, the MRT is probably one of the most difficult places to bomb. It's not like the LRT system where the security just raises a rope to let the people in and then lets it down again (that's how it got bombed a few years ago... I'm sure it's tightened up by now). And since I was too lazy to take the MRT since I had to show my bag and bother with showing them that my bag does not contain explosives but Japanese manga, I hitched a ride with Arcina when she took a cab.

And when I get out of the cab, rain starts to pour. Fortunately, I brought an umbrella. That didn't stop me from getting drenched though.

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I did NOT get a good night's sleep. Flies were pestering me, biting my legs, my arms, my face... suffice to say, when I finally got fed up at 4 am, I decided to move in to the guest room. But my brother was there, sleeping. Hypocrite! I brother was scolding me a few months ago for not sleeping in my room. Now look where he is. -.-

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Since I have nothing else to write, I'll just repeat what I told Elbert and Khristine about the infestation in my house:

Right now, I'm sharing the room with a rat. I've cleaned up the place and I still can't find the rat hole, or wherever the rat is hiding.

My bathroom has an ant colony that comes out when the sun sets and I tried killing them once but the next day, their population seemed to double. *.*

Of course insects occasionally crawl out of the keyboard and some flying bugs land on my monitor and I have to wipe off their blood from the screen once I squish them.

My parent's room is home to various insects that hop, fly, and crawl. Of course it's only me that notices it but that's only because their room only exists so that they can sleep in it and nothing else. The insects come in through the window since it's only wire that separates them from the room.

A lizard comes out at night to crawl all over the kitchen sink and cockroaches also lurk on the kitchen floor.

Yes, I want to move out of the house for the infestation alone.

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Okay... the rat just came out of the computer and ran towards the other abandoned computer. I can't find it now. Mental note: always keep a flash light with me at all times whenever I'm in my room.

By the way, does anyone have spare web space so that I can post some pics there and link to it from my blog? Unless Benj or Garr are willing to extend mechapinoy's memory to me...

Also just ate four slices of Ultimate Cheese Pizza. Apparently, my siblings bought family-size pizza. After I ate dinner. So I ate the last four slices as a snack.

And to people who know who I'm talking about, it's Ela's birthday 20 minutes from now.

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Here are some pics of the Dune sequel...

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In an attempt for a conversation piece with my crush, I have discovered the following things related to the SF&F genre:

Goodkind's next book, Naked Empire, is TENTATIVELY set to release on June 2003.

Well, Brian Herbert lost the first edition signed copy of Dune given to him by his father (with a dedication "Number One Son") since he loaned it to a friend and his friend never found the damn thing. Well, there's a reward for its return...

Speaking of Dune, there's a sequel to the miniseries shown by the Scifi channel (aired at Cinemax and on AXN here in the Philippines). I don't know who these actors are but they're playing significant roles: Susan Sarandon (Wensicia), Julie Cox (Princess Irulan), Barbara Koodetova (Chani), Ian McNeice (Baron Harkonnen), P.H. Moriarty (Gurney Halleck), Alec Newman (Paul Atreides), Alice Krige (Lady Jessica), Edward Atterton (Duncan Idaho), Steven Berkoff (Stilgar), Jessica Brooks (Ghanima), Daniela Lunkewitz (Alia), and James McAvoy (Leto II). It's entitled Children of Dune and is based on the succeeding two novels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Production began last April 3 in Prague and is set to release next year.

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Well, my blog list is already quite long, although not long enough for me to get tired reading them (I miss Daphne and Pam's journal). Oi, Jobert, what's the URL of your blog?

Anyway, finally managed to get out of the house today. I haven't gone out for the past two days and I had to go to school to submit my nonfiction papers. The I.S. department was relocating so I had to submit my paper to Dr. Liwag's desk in the psychology department. Then, off to you know where.

I was expecting Mich to go since she did ask me what time CCHQ opened. Well, she didn't. And the Lain artbook is still there dear, so you better save up. Can't say the same though for the Hamtaro artbook and the Xenogears artbook.

John managed to drop by for me to loan him the Fushigi CD but he forgot to bring the Vandread 2nd stage VCDs I wanted to borrow (or any anime for that matter). He then went with Bart to her house and they told me they'd come back for me so that they can ransack my room for books. Well, they didn't come back.

Also saw Elbert and managed to coerce him into loaning me DVDs for the sem break. I also loaned him T.H. White's Once and Future King. I haven't even opened it from the plastic yet.

Wheee! Saw the Miriam girls like Tanya, Zena, and Meia. Also met one of their friends who studies in Ateneo and is in second year. Forgot her name. But she has a boyfriend who's in Ateneo high. And she resembles Tanya (same hair, same waistline, etc...). Anyway, point of the story is that she referred to me as "Ela's Charles". Oh. I'm now referred to as that. -.- Apparently, I met them before in the Lord of the Rings premiere in Megamall. I just didn't remember. >.< Of course it's not the first time that I forgot someone cute...

Dennis (yes Jobert, Dennis "super-robot" Ching) dropped by looking for RPG stuff. Well, CCHQ can only acquire White Wolf stuff so...

Khristine misplaced her phone and we couldn't contact it since it was one bar when she last saw it and when I tried to call, it was out of coverage area.

Managed to get home by hitching a ride with Khristine and Katherine. Apparently, CCHQ was supposed to be in Connecticut, in the place where UCC Cafe is located. Oh wow. It could have been walking distance from my house.

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Off to school to submit my nonfiction work. Hopefully, at least one of my stories will get published in the anthology Dr. Brion and Dr. Liwag is making...

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Oh yeah, I hear Powerbooks is going to acquire Coraline books soon. And it's priced at P655. Yipee!

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It's me currently doing what I do best: cramming. I have to submit my nonfiction stories tomorrow and well, there's three more stories to go. Rewriting is tedious as well as editing, but revisiting memory lane can be painful as well. Maybe I'll post these nonfiction stories in my other blog when I have the time. Besides, it's also been quite some time since I last updated that thing.

Actually spent the afternoon doing something I never imagined I'd do: watch basketball. It was the UAAP vs NCAA (or something like that) and it's interesting to see that Ateneo is holding its own against the non-UAAP teams. I was surprised that DLSU lost one game but not surprised that UE has 3 wins since they are a good team. UST is just plain disappointing, especially the game they had awhile ago. They were making dribble errors that caused them to lose the ball. A lot of times.

Last but not least, there's a Powerbooks sale tomorrow until Sunday. 20% off. Only at Megamall and Pasay Road branches.

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I'm supposed to cram my nonfiction papers today but I'm not in the mood for revision at the moment. Maybe once I've watched Titus...

Hurrah for me. Got to finish George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords. Can't wait for the next book to come out.

In other news, Pinoy Exchange has been down for the past few days. Or should I say their BBS is down, and that's what their known for.

And something just doesn't feel right with my neat and clean room...

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Obtained from Terry Brook's site.

Legends II - Several years ago Robert Silverberg put together a fantasy anthology to end all fantasy anthologies for TOR Books. It was titled Legends and had such names as Stephen King, Robert Jordan, Ursula Le Guin, Silverberg himself, as well as Terry Pratchett, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card, Tad Williams, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, and Raymond E. Feist. The project was hugely successful, due to the idea that Silverberg wanted each author to write in the respective world that made them popular. Legends II , which is a tentative title at the moment, will bring the majority of these individuals back for another project of short novels in the respective worlds they write in under the Del Rey publishing house. During the last project Silverberg really wanted to work with Terry but Terry didn't feel comfortable with a Shannara story being published outside of Del Rey where his success all began. Now that Del Rey has the second Legends anthology Terry decided to be a part of it. Other possible names involved in the project are Robin Hobb, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Haydon, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, Tad Williams, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, Ursula K. Le Guin, Raymond E. Feist, and Silverberg himself. By December 2002 Terry is submitting a short Shannara novel, anywhere from 90-150 pages in length, to be published sometime in 2003 in second Legends anthology.

The title of the next Shannara series is The Ard Rhys of Shannara. The new trilogy piggybacks off of the events of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy, and is similarly broken into three books that encompass an overall storyline. The first book in the new series, tentatively titled Farka Ruus (meaning 'Banished Peoples' in elvish), will be published September 2003. If you see Terry on the road he is reading an excerpt from that book at certain locations.

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Rat-hunting is not exactly a scenario I imagine myself in. I've hunted flies, cockroaches, and ants. Rats seem to be more tricky even if they're larger. I can't seem to find the rat. I suspect it's probably my mom's fault. She's as blind as a bat, among other things, and she probably let the rat in whenever she comes into my room to record her daily dose of telenovelas, and leaving the lights on as well. Technically, I wouldn't mind sharing the room with a rat... except that it might start eating my books. Obviously, that's as no-no.

Hmmmm. I want money. I'm broke. ;_; And I wanna get Backgammon artbooks and Lain artbooks and such. Not that any of those are going to me but... Obviously, I need a job for the sem break. Any suggestions? Will work for menial labor, like encoding.

And here's something I can get for Steph on her birthday since she's a McCaffrey fan.

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A quick bath is good, especially when you just finished cleaning your room. My room is now full of dust... and I'm starting to uncover things I was previously missing.

I'm still reminiscing the Ultimate Cheese Pizza with six kinds of cheese. When we got one slice, cheese slumped down like lava from a volcano to fill the gap. For P319.00, it was well worth it.

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Just when I entered my room, a rat pops out and runs from the table to my bed. I now can't find it. At least I now know what makes the noises during the evening...

As usual, I was at CCHQ waiting for the shop to open. Some Xenogears artbook and manga did arrive but aside from that...

Just found out that Studio 23 is now selling VCDs of the UAAP finals. Of course it also happens to cost P650 for the last three games. No thanks.

Kit, John, and I ate the Ultimate Cheese Pizza at Pizza Hut. Yum! It was over in thirty minutes, which is an improvement over my previous experience dining in at Pizza Hut where I had to wait for 45 minutes before the Pizza finally arrived.

I'm also broke broke broke. Purchased Arcina's Devil May Cry artbook and I'll be saving up for Backgammon #2 and #3 which is arriving next month. Was going to make a downpayment for the Lain artbook (which has a slipcover case) for Mich but then I found out it cost P3500. *.* I don't have 25% of that amount, which is the minimum for downpayments.

Then I took my history test. As usual, it pays not to study. It's more of analysis more than anything else. Did see Steph with Izza and Ela. Had to convince Ela that she shouldn't take the exam anymore considering she got exempted with a B and Ambeth did warn us that those who are exempted who take the test might risk getting a lower grade. Steph ignored me. No wave, no eye contact, not even a hi. Oh well. Back to reading A Storm of Swords.

Technically, I should be doing my nonfiction papers now but the rat incident started making me think I should clean my room now.

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Clamp's artbook is Southside. Nothing refreshes my memory like waking up...

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I had a brain drain for the past few hours... been staring at the TV for several hours or so. It feels so nice to unwind. =P

Apparently, just found out from Arcina dear that Mich is interested in the Lain artbook. And that Saiyuki Reload is the continuation to the Saiyuki manga previously published. (It's nice to have knowledgeable anime fans like Arcina.) Also forgot to mention this but there's one more artbook at CCHQ: the cover is Clamp Campus Detectives and the artbook contains art from the various series of Clamp. Forgot the title. Ugh. So many titles, so little money.

Oh yeah. I want to watch Ring 1, 2, and 0. None of that US adaptation crap. I'm also thinking of changing the title of my blog. Perhaps "The World vs A Stalker" has a better ring to it than this lousy attempt at alliteration.

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Ha! AnimeExplosion has been moved to March. Anyway, anime fans should just check the Pinoy Otaku ML.

I managed to cram Theology in three and a half hours. Amazing. I don't think I did on the test though. Actually didn't finish the first part in time. Oh well. At least that's done. Only God can tell if I'll take the subject up again next sem or not.

I was at CCHQ (again) a few minute after they opened. Kit, Carlo, and Tanya were there, eyeing the new arrivals like...

X #18! They got a dozen copies but it's selling like hotcakes. I was going to mention Tokyo Babylon #7 but since they only obtained three, it's gone now (just wait for the next shipment). Chobits #7 also arrived as well as Saiyuki Reload #1 (Gaiden will hopefully arrive next month). CCHQ managed to acquire two copies of the Backgammon artbook but both were on reserve... and then Khristine told me that she was mistaken and only one was on reserve. Ummmm... well, Tchan can just send me a text message if she wants it.

There's also the Devil May Cry artbook. Called Arcina and I made a downpayment for her, which is fair considering I still owe her P3,000 for the Arslan manga set. There was also the X Zero artbook, which is strange considering it's out of print and I remember first seeing it two years ago at Comic Alley. Of course it didn't cost P3,000 back then but that's how much out-of-print stuff costs.

Xenosaga, Tokyo Babylon, and Sakura Taisen postcards were also eye catchers. There's also a Raxephone, Lain, and WeiB artbook. Plus some restocks of old stuff, like the WeiB manga. And to think that's just half of the shipment...

And yes, while those few paragraphs were plugs, it's plugs that people are grateful for.

Tomorrow is our history exam but I'm not really fretting about it... much. The worst (as in I might fail) is over and it's time for me to relax. Will eat out with Kit and John tomorrow at Pizza Hut savoring the cheese pizza. For some strange reason, the apple crumble of Dominos always give me stomach aches...

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*sigh* Have to study for Theo. This is actually a subject I just might fail...

Anyway, this was the suggestion of Mindgate's technical support:

Technical Support: What did it say?

Charles: Insufficient disk space.

Technical Support: Maybe Yahoogroups ran out of disk space.

Charles: Yahoogroups can't run out of disk space. They're sending the message. And I receive the same amount of email every week. It only happens on Saturday evenings.

Technical Support: What mail program do you use? Outlook?

Charles: Netscape.

Technical Support: Have you tried using another mail program, like Outlook perhaps?

Charles: It's not a program error. I've been using the same program for the past few years.

Technical Support: Ummm, I think we're working on the problem. There was a similar complaint and our system administrator is looking into it.

Charles: ...and?

Technical Support: Why don't you just email the system administrator about the problem?

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Just got off the phone with the technical support of Mindgate regarding my email problem. The guy on the other line knows zilch as he kept insisting I try another mail program. Time to email the administrator...

Caught the latter half of Digital Tour awhile ago. *gasp* Sacha, a fourth year BS-CS/BS-Math student at Ateneo, was being interviewed. Well, I've known Sacha for the past three years and well, she really is a computer genius. Anyway, she was talking about her laptop that has, ummmm, voice capability I think. I didn't catch most of it because my cousins were insisting I turn to PTV 4 to watch the Asian Olympics (The Philippines lost by 2 points against the opposing team in basketball). I also didn't notice until the end that the venue being used for the show was Enconium.

Off to studying after I settle this ISP problem. If only my sister would get off the Internet and if only I didn't have to spend Sunday evenings with my *cough* *cough* "family".

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I come home only to find that my email bounced again. *.* Fine, my email is down on Saturdays... (again, if there's anything important that you sent me, please resend.)

Anyway, received a criticism: someone is complaining I'm using real people's names. Okay, here's the deal. To those who find me using their real names offensive, just email me privately so I can start using aliases or something next time. And I just like to remind people that I'm not psychic so if there's a problem, inform me rather than waiting for me to do something about it even if I don't know there's a problem in the first place? I'm a blunt and direct person. =P

I arrived at school yesterday at around 11:30 pm. Managed to look at my class standing for history and surprised that I got a B. I don't think that'll remain my final grade though. There's still Tuesday's final exam. Oh yeah, Ambeth's new policy next semester is that all your highest exams will be cancelled... so your lower grade is your FINAL grade.

Dropped by CCHQ since I had a few hours to kill. Aiee was there, bringing along an album of various trading cards: Yami no Matsuei, Chobits, and Fruits Basket. She also got from ebay a Saiyuki plushie set for $5 each... and some of them came along with a towel. Oh yeah, it was also Bart's birthday! Happy birthday Bart!

I went to the administration building afterwards and saw some workers filling up the place with blue balloons since that evening was Ateneo's Blue Roast. It's rare that we win a basketball championship, among other things. Coni wanted to get a balloon and asked them if she could get one since she wouldn't be here for the evening. Anyway, after several minutes of waiting, we all managed to board the jeepney that held all seventeen of us plus the driver. Off to Antipolo!

Since no one brought snacks, there were no munchies during the trip. Ray was reading a book all throughout the trip and Pops probably wanted to study for the Theo finals tomorrow (and I haven't even begun to study yet... thanks for all the encouragement!). I brought a camera and started taking pics. *click*

The retreat place (it's not a retreat) was big and there was a garden that we could wander. The guys shared a dorm which contained around two dozen beds, some double-deckers. We could sleep anywhere and Niko's electric fan didn't want to work, although we managed to sort it out. Of course two out of the five guys in the class were sick. Hopefully, none of us caught it.

The girls place was divided into several cubicles/rooms and a pair shared a room. I don't know what the place looks like since I never went in, although Niko did go in once because Eva was urging him to.

Lots of journal writing, lots of seminars, and lots of food. Yes, I ate. When no one brought snacks, you eat at every opportunity available. We had siopao for merienda, I forgot what we had for dinner, fish and salted eggs for breakfast, chicken ala king for merienda, and pork chop and sinigang for lunch the next day.

During the evening, we did have parlor games. One was "you're invited to a party" and the mechanics of the game was something that you had to deduce. You'd mention something you'd wear or not waer to the party and the rest will tell you if you can go to the party or not. Of course the third game we played was quite interesting. We were divided into two groups and we had to make the longest line using stuff that we on our persons. I ended up removing my jacket, belt, socks, shoes, shirt...

At 10 pm, the guys couldn't sleep. No one brought a board game like Scrabble or Monopoly. I tried telling them some Mindtrap puzzles but my classmates aren't the type to like those games. >.< Actually got a lot of sleep.

The next morning, we secretly filled out Dr. Brion's birthday card since it's his birthday tomorrow. Later, he gave us chocolates (I'm allergic to chocolate) and Cy bought him a chocolate cake. It involved a lot of willpower to decline, even if I'm allergic to them.

After more activities and a couple of picture takings, we headed back for Ateneo. Dropped some people on the way and we managed to get to school at 1:30 pm. Now it's time I take a bath and study for Theology.

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