Saturday, July 12, 2003

48-Hour Day

Friday and Saturday seems just like one long day, especially since I didn't get much sleep on Friday.

Got home at 5 am on Saturday because I was at Jobert's place playing our D&D campaign. Then had to wake up at 9:30 am to meet up with friends and finally school at 1 pm.

If anyone was trying to contact me the previous day, well, tough luck since aside from not being home, my phone battery died on Friday evening.

So Near Yet So Far

I still don't know if ADB managed to get the D&D 3.5 books or if I have to wait for their next shipment. When I got there last Friday, the guy told me their shipment has arrived but has not yet been delivered to their two branches. Oh well.

Of course after hearing that, I had to kill time at Glorietta since no one was still at Jobert's condo yet. Of course if I knew I was going to hang around Glorietta for nearly three hours, I would have watched a movie.

I want my D&D 3.5 books!!!

Wine... More Wine

Despite arriving at 6:30 pm at Jobert's home, the game didn't start until 10 pm.

Ragnarok Online and Scourge of Worlds took up some time, but starting late was due to the fact that not yet everyone was still there. And dinner hadn't been cooked.

Of course when we were finally eating dinner, two bottles of wine were in front of us: sweet wine and white wine. Suffice to say, it was quickly consumed. I like sweet wine. Because it's, errr, sweet.

Visiting Arcina

There's really something strange about living inside a village which is also inside a village.

When we got to the first gate, we had to surrender our ID and they gave us this plastic gate pass. When we came to the second gate, we had to surrender our gate pass for another gate pass.

It just strikes me as awkward. Not to mention the possibilities of invading the village within the village since all you had to do was make a forgery of the other village's gate pass to enter...

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Thursday, July 10, 2003

Forgot to Mention...

Yesterday, in order to enforce the wearing of IDs, Ateneo had one of those "surprise" checkups. Students who failed to wear their IDs had to sign a form and will probably be in the hold order list, which'll probably require a fine on their part so that they can take the final exams (which is three months away).

Meanwhile

I'm using one of the school's computer labs, and I'm probably updating this the same time Marcel is since he's on the other side of the room (although I don't think he sees me).

And I'm sitting beside this cute girl in pink...

My Teeth Hurt

So far, I've had nothing for breakfast nor for lunch, unless a popsicle stick counts as a meal. I've been in denial the entire day, hoping that there aren't any afternoon classes because of the cheer rally (of course I know there will still be classes but I can hope can't I?).

Mysterious Text Messages

I've been getting text messages from various unknown people for the past week, although by now, their identities have been revealed. Feh. One of them even wants me to stalk this "weird" (which basically describes a lot of people, myself included) person who strolls around campus. Sorry, I'm not that kind of stalker.

And if All Goes Well For My Friend

I'll know who to blame for bad translations when Meteor Garden 2 debuts in August. At least ABS-CBN is milking the cow for all it's worth, unlike what happened to Marimar when a rival station got the rights to it.

Apparently

The cute girl mentioned earlier has a blurty and is updating it. Or at least reading someone's blurty. Hmmmm, lots of blogs out there.

And the One Thing I Hate About Updating Outside of Home...

Is the fact that I have to sign out or else someone else might have access to my private information, whether it's my blogs, my email, and my mailing lists.

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A Sign I Liked

While we were waiting for Comicol's ads to be reproduced, I saw this sign that read:

"No smoking. Those who do will be shot. Those who survive will be shot again."

Talk About Pathetic

On the other hand, on the way to the photocopier, I saw this at at Seiji:

"Come get your Meteor Garden fill" or something similar. It's Meteor Garden. At a Japanese restaurant. Never mind.

Korean Soap Opera

Well, GMA 7 got one, disrupting my schedule of watching anime. It's even more annoying that timeslots have a thirty minute gap.

Converts

Getting people to get into SF&F is easy in comparison to getting another person into pen and paper RPGs. I mean in order to accomplish the former, all you need to do is to loan him/her a book. For the latter...

Well, let's just say one needs subtler techniques.

Take Elbert for example. He's not into RPGs (or even video games for that matter). He's into comics. So in my grand scheme, how do I get him interested in RPGs?

Corruption has always been a slow descent. Several months ago, I had Elbert do a script involving RPGs (which is still pending because well... fate is conspiring against Elbert).

Phase two involved showing him the core books of D&D. He was awed at the artists ("they're comic book artists!") and was surprised that a lot of effort was put into the books rather than just a mishmash of facts and stats.

Phase three started earlier this week when Jobert arrived and narrated jokes about the gaming party.

Phase four was initiated the other day when Vin and Tobie proposed a D20 3.5 conversion for one of their fiction.

And of course, Elbert was asking yesterday questions about how feasible it is to get into RPGs. Topped it off by loaning him the Scourge of Worlds (kind people could also get one for me) demo CD. And he liked it.

That's not to say Elbert will be playing RPGs anytime soon. But eventually...

Up, Up, And Away!

I don't think I'll be coming home today. Day will start with me leaving home for my dentist appointment, then school, then ADB (please let 3.5 be released today!!!), then to Jobert's place for our D&D campaign.

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Wednesday, July 09, 2003

Breathe

To make a long story short, I walked to Mega Mall, met some friends, ran home to get some stuff for friends, went back to Mega Mall, killed roughly two hours, walked back home. Missed watching CSI, among other things.

To Prove A Point

I think it's no surprise that names like Tin Mandigma and Arcina are famous in anime circles, even before conventions.

Random Person: Tin?! As in Tin Mandigma??? You actually know her? The same person who wrote *insert banned-fic name*. Can you introduce me to her?

I know I'll just be hits just for mention the likes of Tin and Arcina.

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Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Slumber

Eh. It's another of those Tuesdays when I just collapse at 7:30 pm and wake up early the next day.

Holy Language

One funny thing Mr. Sunico pointed out is the emphasis a lot of people put on Latin. I mean the clergy thinks that the more you speak the language, the closer you are to God. But one must remember the Latin text of the Bible was taken from the Greek, and the Greek from Aramaic (which the illiterate Jesus spoke). So there.

Interactive DVD

Managed to pass by Comic Quest yesterday and got Dragon Magazine. It came with a free DVD game and when I first heard it from Vin, I thought it was just one of those fancy PC games that wouldn't run on my computer because of my feeble video card.

But apparently, it is a DVD, with features which enable you to play it as a game on any standard DVD player. It's a D&D CGI-based film with "choose your own adventure"-type choices.

The demo though was only 1/4 of the story and my God, it was really short. Much like one of the first "multiple-ending" RPGs (Chrono Trigger), a person would probably be done with this in a very short time (30 minutes?). All it has is its "replay value" but then again, breezing through the opening sequence is long...

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Monday, July 07, 2003

Something That Could Have Come from Dean

Got this email:
Position: CREATIVE ASSISTANT

Job Description - To assist the all knowing yet frequently unsure creative boss (that's me).

And during those times of low self esteem and doubt, must convincingly reassure me, I mean him, that everything he does is great and clap when viewing images or reading copy created by said boss.

She (possibly he, but not likely) will be responsible for proof reading all materials that have words on them.

Must take notes and be able to organize schedules and sock drawers (ok, maybe not schedules).

Application Requirements1. Must know: Photoshop, Flash, Html, Aubrey Miles, 3D Studio Max, Adobe Premiere, QuarkXpress, Assunta De Rossi (a plus).

2. Must have a wicked sense of humor.

3. Must have a thick skin. I mean this figuratively.

4. Must be a better designer than me but never admit it.

5. Must not mind being stared at.

6. Must like peanut butter.

7. Must be fluent in English and Pig-Latin.

8. Mad style, no social life and a 1000+ comic book collection are all pluses.

The Return

A friend came home from abroad. The attempt was in trying to surprise us last Saturday. Unfortunately, since we were uninformed, we left early so he came home to an empty room.

Job Offer

Well, not exactly one that pays. An offer to be part of a focus group came from Level Up Games for their game Ragnarok Online (finally, people are giving me job offers!).

Unfortunately, it came in conflict with my classes.

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Sunday, July 06, 2003

Pity Post

It's one of those days when I just wake up and I feel lonely. I mean it's not like I have someone to talk to on the phone. And anyone who sees me, whether it's in the mall or in school, usually finds me without company. I mean I have friends, a lot of them, but I don't have any close friends, people I usually hang out with or spend quality time with.

Heck, no one even writes me email nowadays. When I check my mailbox, I have a few dozen emails, most of them... SPAM! Not even pretty comments on my blog. =)

Somebody Should Shoot Sky Cable's Marketing

Apparently, they were showing Star Mandarin (the one with the movies) for the nth time. And here's their message:

"Star Mandarin will be available until July 7. If you want to watch it every day for free, subscribe to Sky Cable's Premium Channel."

Talk about contradicting one's self.

The Illusion

Well, somebody just called up half an hour ago to confirm membership for Celadon and asking for any business contacts I know.

Of course I merely replied with the statement "I'm not in Celadon." I could feel the shock of surprise from the other side. Of course the girl sounded pretty, but no thanks, I'm not interested in enlisting in Celadon. Even if they did print my article on their first issue for the year (which gives credence to the illusion that I'm in Celadon).

Borges

Well, managed to get a copy of his book yesterday from ADB. Yey, no more reading from photocopies.

Unfortunately, I'm spending more than I'm saving.

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