Because I am totally oblivious to the world around me, it's only in church that I learned that someone got murdered in the UP grounds. Apparently, it wasn't theft since his phone, watch, and wallet was still with him. Even worse, when I got home, I got an email saying that this guy was two weeks away from graduating as well as a cosplayer (he cosplayed Lupin).

Also dropped by Virramall to purchase a blank VHS tape. People are still peddling pirated DVDs and VCDs and CD-King is selling a lot of cheap CDs, including a mini-CDR for P15. Also dropped by Comic Sale since I was in the area and they were reputed to be selling VCD copies of Ring 1, 2, and 0. They were also selling Chobits plushies but they were expensive, P1500 in contrast to CCHQ's P950~P1000 price tag.

Also bought me a Carrot Pina juice which brings me to a total of P60 in my wallet, which is supposed to last me the entire week. This I got to see.

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Before I go to church, I have a few minutes to write this entry.

First off, I have a soar throat. Looks like I won't be speaking much in the next few days. Thank God blogs use the written word. Maybe in the future, people will just stream blogs and listen to the person's voice narrating his life...

Second, just finished the second chapter of The Woman Who Had Two Navels. Three more chapters to go. I know cramming is horrible but that's the way I've been living my life.

Third, after church, I have to go to Virramall and buy a VHS tape, since someone didn't return my one tape which I use for recording TV shows. If there's any doubt who this person is, he's known for shouting in loud voices, and could be heard in our Com classroom yesterday as he was sucking up to Ricky Lee. Yes, that's you, Monkey Boy, as Jobert would call it.

Fourth, tomorrow, I have to meet up with an "acquaintance". I don't know why but for the past few months, I'm suddenly having stalkers. >.< I mean I'm not handsome, not even likable (I'm evil, don't ya know?), but why are people suddenly obsessing about me? Anyway, this acquaintance which I last saw three years ago while I was still working in Virramall suddenly got my number from Joy (which is why you don't give other people's phone numbers to people you just met) and started sending me text messages. It went along the likes of "I'm been dreaming about you" (I kid you not) and "I want to reminisce old times" (old times? nothing happened during "old times"... as far as I can remember, that was the time I was getting over Rin and I'm supposed to be amiable... we don't want me driving the customers now do we?). My God, this is dialogue from a bad romance novel. Anyway, will be meeting her tomorrow (and her friend) to clear things up. In all honesty, I'm the last person I'd expect this to happen. This might happen to someone like, say, Mitz (who's bishonen and popular) but to me? Someone needs to have their heads checked, and I'm not talking about me.

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So little time, so much to read.

First off, I'm cramming a novel for my Phil. Literature class. It's Nick Joaquin's "The Woman Who Had Two Navels". I have an identification quiz on Monday. I hate identification, mainly because you have to memorize names, facts, places and events. That's the part of my memory that wasn't quite developed, mainly because I've been relying on name tags for way too long.

Aside from that, there's a short story Krip Yuson gave us for fiction class. He wants us to study the short story and give our reaction to it as well as our evaluation. Of course it happens to be his short story and he just covered his name using a black marker (but with careful examination, you'll still see his name).

I remember his lecture last week about how fiction should be as cinematic as the movies and how it's harder to draw the reader's attention considering there's other popular media like TV and the cinema. He also popular techniques like the O-Harry ending, and there's this other term which Alfred Hitchcock coined which basically is like a red herring diverting the viewer's attention from the actual culprit. Amazingly, he also mentioned comics and manga in his lecture, as well as how the Greeks used to stage their plays in 9 episodes, which was the original plan for Star Wars.

Right now, I'm looking for a server that can host my blog as well as my previous fanzines and writings, so that they're all linked in one site rather than going through a multitude of sites. And while I can probably afford to purchase a server, I don't have a credit card to make the payments.

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As can be expected, my ISP's email server screwed up again. Yes, Mich, I know you're tired of this rant. On the bright side, I did get an email from Steph. *happy*

Yes, I'm actually happy. Because a few hours ago, I was melancholy. Because she wrote. And because I just ate some Tuna sashimi. Ah, the advantages of owning a Japanese restaurant...

Anyway, Rin, yes, I wouldn't call it courting. I'm too shy for that. *sweatdrop* Besides, she'd kill me if I did that.

And here's a lovely essay by Frank Herbert on Dune.

Also had to go to school today, because I have a feature writing class. Apparently, our room has a stupid electric wiring system which means I have to go around the entire room, flicking some half-dozen switches, just to turn the lights on.

During class, we read out what we wrote last week, which is basically an interview with your seatmate. And as expected, my seatmate used the "Harry Potter" gimmick in describing me. An interesting point was also made by one of the students, concluding that a lot of Ateneans these days end up in call centers. Had to explain to the teacher what call centers were, and how prolific they are here in the Philippines (so to those staying abroad, the next time you call tech support, chances are, you're talking to a Filipino).

After class, Tchan sent me a text message saying that she's in Ateneo.

Me: Where are you?

Tchan: At Bel. Don't come, I'm with my parents.

Me: Ikinahihiya mo ba ako? (Are you embarassed about me?) Just kidding! I know your parents are strict.

Tchan: I'm meeting someone.

Me: Who?

Tchan: A friend who currently has ROTC.

Me: Uuyy.

Tchan: We're just friends. Haven't seen him in two years.

Me: Uuyy pa rin (still uuyy).

Tchan: He already has a girlfriend. Besides, I'm only interested in older guys.

Me: So you already considered it? =)

Commuting is essential to my survival since I don't have a carpool going home nowadays. Can't believe it's only taken me two weeks to exhaust my P100 MRT prepaid card. The fact that I'm broke (I still have around P100 which is supposed to last me until December) doesn't help either.

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Here's a news item on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter 5 for those of you who are ever curious.

And it only occured to me today that of all the stuff I've purchased from CCHQ in the past ten months, only two items actually went to me: Yoshitaka Amano and Neil Gaiman's Dream Hunters and Arnold Arre's After Eden. And their net worth is something like P2,000. My God, that's not even one-tenth of my total spendings. That's not even half of what I've spent this month. >.< Yes, a lot of stuff I buy does go to other people...

And yes, this blog is highly controversial and will probably get me into trouble. I'm evil, and I'm arrogant. I'm also blunt and tactless. Thank God I still have friends. =)

Speaking of friends, just found out who's romantically interested in Tanya. Over my dead body. Not because I'm interested in Tanya (a lot of people should know by now who I'm actually courting for the past THREE years) but because she's my friend and the guy's a jerk. He already has several girlfriendssss and boasts of his sexual conquests. Of course that's the least of my worries. Some of you might know him as the guy who has a temper, and actually got his girlfriend hospitalized (because he hit her... he was remorseful afterwards but still, that was quite a beating) a few years ago. Ha! And you thought your boyfriends were mean.

And because I'm on auto-censor, that's all for now. I'd like to thank people for all their comments, both positive and negative...

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Another reason why I'm sad I'm broke: CCHQ has restocked!

For starters, Fruits Basket #10 and Hunter x Hunter #15 has arrived. For the former, the events catch up one year later so everyone sports an "older" look (they're taller too). Yaoi, confessions, and cliffhangers abound.

They also restocked on Alichino but since Mich had the three volumes on reserve, only vol. 3 actually hit the shelf. There's a Saiyuki Vol. 1 and it's from another publisher so we don't know if it's a reissue of the regular one or it's the Saiyuki Gaiden.

There's also a really oversized Hikaru no Go artbook which costs a whopping P3500 as well as the other Backgammon artbooks retailing P2150 each. US shipments also arrived and noteworthy among them is Neil Gaiman's Christmas postcards (which narrate a story, I think) and Sandman: Preludes, which come with a special CD-ROM. There's also Darkness, Truth, Filth, and the paperback of Batman: Fugitive vol. 1.

Had to arrive at school early to find out where my ACP class was going to be held. I nearly came late but that shouldn't matter since the first thirty minutes was spent arranging the room. The volunteers were scrambling to find extension cords and adaptors for the projector and when they finally did, apparently the room was too bright for the picture to be clearly seen. Someone had to haul in those cabinet TVs with a VHS player. And then the OHP mysteriously turned itself off from time to time only to come back again.

The speaker was Mr. Alvin Yapan, Palanca winner and former Filipino teacher. Apparently, the ACP class I signed up for involved a talk about romance (which I only found out earlier that day when I ran into Ela and she asked me what my ACP class was). Anyway, in one hour and a half, I got a brief history of love, at least the marital kind and how love in marriage didn't exist until the Middle Ages (where the Christians learned it from the Muslims). Originally, marriage involved getting the girl in exchange for a dowry, and honeymoon actually meant kidnapping the girl and only returning her when she was pregnant with child. Anyway, further discussions on pop culture showcasing love relations between man and animal (Head over Heels), overcoming age boundaries (TV series Friends), interracial relationships (Road Trip), same sex (The Priest) and opposite sex intercourse (The English Patient), and finally, class differences (Pretty Woman, Moulan Rouge).

Of course before all this, had to keep Ela company as the proctor for her ACP class was late. Apparently, those who enlisted in Jazz dance were all female. Let's not even get into the P.E. of Jazz dance where there were only a few men and only one or two are heterosexual.

Amazingly enough, I have to censor this entry upon the insistence of Khristine. Which means a lot more happened...

P.S. Tin, what's your email? Please email it to me. ^^

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Oh yeah, I also didn't realize until the other day (when Elbert told me) that Flip #3 is out. Had to purchase one from the newsstands instead of getting it for free at A Different Bookstore (God only knows how much I spend there every month).

Our Theology teachers seems lively and competent, despite Garrick's misgivings. Then again, Garrick is cynical enough for a person twice his age (I was going to say thrice but Garrick'll probably be dead by that time).

Oh yeah, Zoids is one every weekday at 7 pm.

And I'm broke, broke, broke. As in I'll have to borrow money to have the Backgammon artbook on reserve which'll be coming hopefully by today or tomorrow. And among their shipment is Fruits Basket 10 and Hunter x Hunter 15...

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In a perfect world, I would have a DSL connection so that I do not have to compete for the phone with my elder brother. And in a perfect world, DSL connections should actually be fast...

First off, yesterday, CCHQ had these four senior Ateneans whose name I still do not know but frequently talk to, especially since they're Gundam fans and one of them is a tokatsu fan like me. Anyway, Khristine was narrating at during the other day, they were shy as school boys as two of them were drawing and the Miriam girls were looking at their art. Khristine made a comparison to one scene in Culture Crash 9...

Sometimes, I envy artists. All they need to get other people's attention is to look cute and start drawing. Writing is a more private thing...

Meanwhile, I still don't know where the venue of my ACP (Alternative Class Program) despite the fact that mine is a few hours away since it's not listed in the site. That's efficiency for you.

In other news, now I know why Steph is in Musmos. And her birthday is one week away. *sigh*

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In gossip, Dominic/Mao has a new pseudo-girlfriend. When the two are touchy-feely in the corridors of the FBR building...

In gaming news, no one is hosting an RPG game so far, which means I'm just waiting for Jobert to arrive here in the Philippines. And Cyril doesn't want me showing the Monsters Manual 2 to other players. For obvious reasons. ^^

And a lot of people have birthdays on November. Which are totally unforseen. Which means I'm broke and I can't buy people gifts. Just today, I couldn't even buy a Hunter x Hunter manga for MM. I just split the cost with her and had her pick a book (since books were the only things left) from my Santa's Sack. Oh yeah, she also got into a conversation with the CCHQ store owner. Apparently, they both come from Iloilo in the same village...

MM: Charles! The plushies are expensive! (P1000)

Me: You're not in Japan anymore dear. Plushies don't come out of UFO Catchers anymore, and even if they did, they're not as adept as you at catching them.

And speaking of birthdays, I'm invited to a debut in December. And it's only now I realized how rich Ana really is. They have the Philharmonic Orchestra playing. >.<

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*Theo teacher comes in late five minutes*

Teacher: Is everyone here?

Class: Yes.

Teacher: Okay. Give me five more minutes while I park the car.

Class: *sweatdrop*

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First off, I made a mistake in my earlier post. Girls were fawning over Draco Malfoy. I made a slip when I mentioned Lucius Malfoy.

Second, Carlos was angry at me for mentioning him in my blog. Carlos, Carlos, Carlos!!! There, get even madder. =)

Carlos: *roars* Charles!!! I will kill you!

Charles: For leaving you out in the rain last Saturday or for buying Monsters Manual 2?

Carlos: For mentioning me in your blog!!!

Third, apparently, Elbert was able to acquire the LotR Collector's Edition for P3350. And he didn't tell me. And it's already arrived... except he doesn't have the money so he can't get it yet.

And made my final downpayment for the Backgammon artbook since it's all or nothing (either pay up or lose it). But because Karen was depressed... (okay, the reason I don't give *that expensive* gifts to people to begin with is that they might distrust your motives)

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Well, there's another rat in my room. I guess I will always be surrounded by vermin.

Meanwhile, I was disappointed with Digital Tour. Ugh, they gave a game review for Never Winter Nights and it was all wrong. I mean they got two "gamers" to review it but these gamers were coming from the wrong perspective. One guy even had "favorited RPG game: Counterstrike" under his credentials. Anyway, one of the reviewers said that NWN isn't so spectacular compared to the other RPGs out there but what makes it stand out is its storyline. Storyline? (I mean sure, NWN's storyline isn't half bad, but that's not its strongest point, IMHO. In fact, some might say that NWN's storyline is weak and its capability to integrate other modules is its saving grace.)

Meanwhile, just finished reading Nick Joaquin's Portrait of an Artist as Filipino. My Lit class is leaving me little time to read my SF&F books. Speaking of which, I'm broke and I want to read Dune: House Corrino so I can finish writing my review of the Dune Prequels in my Livejournal.

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