And Another Day Passes

Went to my dentist appointment and my job interview got cancelled.

It's strange how summer felt like... summer, and now that it's June, I'm back to the busybody that is usually me.

Coffee Shop

I don't drink coffee, but along Katipunan, beside CCHQ and where World Topps is located at, is a coffee shop (I forgot the name) that not only serves food (and obviously, coffee) but has a few computers (with flatscreen monitors!) you can use to surf as well as a small library of books and games (they have Mindtrap 2!).

National Scrabble Championships

Apparently, such an event exists (here, in this country I mean). Hmmmm, maybe Gig and Dean should join, and the world will finally know which is the better Alfar (of course everyone knows Sage is the best Alfar!).

More can be found here.

When Imagination Can Be a Detriment

Hey, I'm someone who thinks it's a blessing to have lots of imagination. After all, someone who perseveres and works hard can know all the rules (whether it be writing, doing business, a certain sport, etc.), but imagination is not something that pops up just because we will it to be so.

Anyway, I was reading a short story the other day and the protagonists were afraid of the dark. I began to wonder, why do we fear the dark, especially as kids? I mean when we're left alone in our rooms at night, why do some of us insist that the lights remain on? After all, the logical mind would come to the conclusion that the state of the room would not change significantly if the lights were turned off. What's inside the room remains inside, and what's outside remains outside. If the monsters weren't there a moment ago, then it should stand to reason that if you close the lights, they still won't be there.

But darkness fuels our imagination. With light, we see the room with our eyes. Little is left to our imagination, except our "invisible friend" and "God". But when the lights go out, we start thinking of all the possibilities: whether it's monsters creeping out of our bed to aliens slowly out to get us. And it's only then do we become afraid, and start running to either turn the lights on or to our parents, asking them to sleep with us, especially the latter since no matter what we tell them, they'll always insist that it's not real.

Does that mean people who can see in the dark have stifled imaginations?

Of course it's been my experience that when you turn the lights off, that's the time that the cockroaches and the rats start coming out.

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Etelecare

Well, it seems I passed the first phase of the test. And well, it seems that a lot of people are applying there (the reception area was crowded, to say the least). At least they have the courtesy to inform us whether we passed or not on the same day.

Out of Nothing Better to Do

Here's my reading list for the past year:

January:

The One Thousand Orcs

The Black Gryphon

The White Gryphon

Descent into the Depths of the Earth

Queen of the Demonweb Pits

Golden Fool

Dragonsong

Dragonsinger

The Other Wind

February:

Legends II

The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque

Over Sea, Under Stone

The Dark is Rising

Greenwitch

The Grey King

Silver on the Tree

March:

Into the Darkness

Sometimes the Magic Works

The Best of H.P. Lovecraft

April:

High Druid of Shannara: Jarka Ruus

Ender's Game

Talon of the Silver Hawk

Science Fiction: The Best of 2003

Dragondrums

The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick

Speaker for the Dead

Xenocide

Children of the Mind

Ender's Shadow

Shadow of the Hegemon

The Color of Magic

May:

The Light Fantastic

Equal Rites

The Truth

Pyramids

June:

Kushiel's Avatar

The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft (currently reading)

Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy (currently reading)

The last one I borrowed from Vin, who just bought it the other day, and told me to plug it in my blog so that Dean would read it, considering it has a Jeffrey Ford short story ("Jupiter's Skull").

But honestly, it looks like a promising anthology. It's edited by Al Sarrantonio, and features a good line-up of writers, some of which I've heard, others I never heard of (which is a good thing since I'm being exposed to new writers).

Vin was even joking that that Neil Gaiman and Orson Scott Card seems to have switched titles, since the latter wrote a short story entitled "Keeper of Lost Dreams", while the former "The Problem of Susan".

And my advice is to get it from A Different Bookstore/Ink and Stone, since they have it along with Powerbooks, but the former is cheaper, unless you have discount from the latter (I have both, so ADB is the way for me).

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Two Months Unemployed

So far this week, it's been a chain-reaction of applying to call centers. So if anyone needs a full-time writer, here's your last chance to (hopefully) notify me.

ORSEM

I did visit my alma matter today but unfortunately, 1) it was raining and 2) the freshmen were having their orientation.

But it was interesting watching freshmen scramble in the rain as they tour the campus. Oh, and my sister is one of those freshies.

On The Way Home

Walking around Cubao, I used to see vendors buying used ink cartridges (they refill the ink cartridges and resell it at a cheaper price than those sold by retailers... never mind the fact that using refills voids the warranty of your inkjet printers). HP cartridges, for example, would fetch P100.00 or so.

So going there today, it really surprised me to see the same vendors at the same places, except now, they're buying rejected SIM cards (with Globe and Smart SIM cards fetching P30.00). Of course now, I'm wondering where they plan to sell them, especially since Globe and Smart are local companies.

If There's Anything I Dislike, It's Being Redundant

Mother: You have a phone call. Quickly answer it.

(No, I'll take my time to answer that urgent phone call.)

Mother: It's an important call.

(Of course it's important, or else they wouldn't have called now would they?)

Mother: It's on the other phone line.

(Of course it's on the other phone line. Because the main phone is right next to me, with the volume on maximum, so I would have heard it ring and answered it if it did.)

Some Filbars Con Pics (Courtesy of Azrael)

Azrael

Carlo Pagulayan

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