Saturday, July 17, 2004

24-Hour Havens

Just got back home but my friends, since they are nocturnal people, are still looking for a place to hang out at.

Of course personally, since I will be joining the night-shift work
force in a month or so, I might as well familiarize the places I can
literally waste time in the middle of the evening or early
morning.

For Those With a Budget

McDonalds at St. Francis Square

Mister Donut

Mini-Mart (the equivalent of 7-11)

For Those Who Want Something Substantial to Eat

Whistle Stop at Libis

For Those Who Have Money

Starbucks at Shangri-La

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Thursday, July 15, 2004

Traveling

While it's true I really can't write about anything interesting if I don't leave the house, the extreme opposite is also true. I've been spending more than half the day away from home that by the time I get to my house, I'm too exhausted to write, read, or even watch the shows I recorded on tape.

So what have I been up to lately?

Book Pimping

Well I have been going from one end of Metro Manila to another to get books for Dean, Vin, and Drew.

Games Games Games!

There's also me playing the occassional VS card game with whoever's willing to play with me, especially considering I don't own even a single card.

And there's the D&D Miniatures hobby of mine (for those interested, there'll be a game next Monday at Neutral Grounds Glorietta at 7 pm) which is turning into a two games a week affair.

Finally, there's me and the Comic Quest people playing whatever board game is at hand, whether it's Upwords, Monopoly, and Settlers of Cataan.

Beautiful, Kind, and Sensitive

Of course through some miracle, I did manage to go out with some, uh, pretty girls the other day (unfortunately, they all have boyfriends). Of course they did bring up the topic of the suitor who was kind but in the end is insufficient for them. And that makes sense, at least to me. I mean when people describe their ideal man/woman, the description that comes out most often is beautiful/handsome, kind, and sensitive. I don't really believe in those three criteria (or at least in the way most people understand them).

First, let's look at beautiful/handsome. Obviously, we do know some beautiful/handsome people. Of course having said that, we don't necessarily like all of the beautiful/handsome people we know. And why? Perhaps it's their personality. Or they're just not our type. So while beauty is a nice criteria to have in our significant other, it's not the be-all and end-all criteria. If the other conditions are met, we might settle for someone lacking in this category. Of course similarly, if we're faced with two attractive choices (usually two people with great personalities), this might be the swing vote.

Since beauty is out, there's just kind and sensitive left. While I'm not out to disregard these two characteristics, I do think it's not an appropriate description of what we're interested in. For most people, what we're really looking for is someone identical to us, someone who shares a lot in common with us.

Having said that, that's where being "kind" comes in. Honestly, we don't want someone who's "too kind". For example, I personally wouldn't want someone who smiles all the time, even when I'm getting angry. We don't want someone too forgiving. Forgiving of us, yes. But forgiving of others (for example, those who might insult us), no. At least not unless you're also that type of person. Similarly, we don't want someone who's too unkind. For example, it might be someone who gets agitated at the slighest mistake. Rather, we want someone who matches our temperament; just the right amount of kindness and lack of it. Someone who gets angry at the same people we get angry at, give or take a few notches. In other words, someone who shares the same moral norms as us (I honestly don't want to be talking to a wall that just smiles all the time, for example, nor do I want to constantly be a sponge for someone's anger).

And of course, who is in the best position to understand us than a person who shares the same interests or mentality as us? Honestly, we don't necessarily want someone who's universally sensitive to everyone else, just sensitive to our feelings. And of course, those who don't really understand us but feigns to do so merely nods or smiles at us, completely agreeing. But the one who truly understands us might even give additional insight, sharing their own experiences, or even suggesting ways of getting revenge or solving the problem, because they themselves know what it feels like. And the closer they resemble us, the better our chance of that happening.

Of course while I did say we're actually looking for someone identical to us, someone completely identical to us is also a no-no. We don't want a clone but someone with whom we can have dialogue. And sometimes, that means having differences, having variations. We're also looking for mystery, after all. So in the end, we're looking for someone who shares just enough common interest with us, and yet is also significantly different from us that while we do understand each other, there are still new things that can be discovered from each other.

I might also add that the criteria we set up for all this is determined by us. I mean there's no predisposition we can't change. We might have a thing for blonde-haired women, for example. But perhaps one of our close friends is a brunette and we fall in love with her. Once the relationship is over, we might look for qualities of our previous lover from those we meet, and that might take the form of brunettes. Or perhaps it's a trait that we first find annoying but later as we get acquainted with the person, it mutates from a flaw into a quirk, something we find wasteful but is cute nonetheless. We are, after all, amorphous beings and self-determined.

All of this, though, is the standards we set for our "ideal partner". It's perfectly possible, for example, to live out the rest of our days in holy matrimony with a good friend, for example. It's a matter of choice, after all. And similarly, it's also because of choice that we want to settle for someone better. Since I'm still young, I can shoot for the moon and hope that I'll eventually meet my dream girl. But when you age, sometimes, someone willing to tolerate you will suffice. And it's because we can be content with that that we end up happy (it could be better but hey, it could also be worse; better with someone rather than die alone).

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Wednesday, July 14, 2004

OMG!!!

Congrats to Vern whose fast food fiction will be used by, uh, Warren Ellis.

Well, at least that's one other friend aside from El and Tobie who gets to be published by famous comic people (from abroad).

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Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Movies!

Fantastic Four casting calls

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe stars

Last but not least is the Earthsea miniseries debuting in December (well, at least fanboys will be treated to the likes of Kristin Kreuk and Isabella Rosselini... female fans can have Shawn Ashmore).

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Attention

On a side note, those who are interested in either personal care products (i.e. moisturizers, etc.) or nutritionals (i.e. cholestorol-reduction), feel free to contact me as I'm a distributor of such products. =)

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Rain!

The storm caught me today so I was quite drenched. I guess it's worth mentioning that I already had a cold before I got wet, so at least there was no additional detrimental effects (such as getting sick, since I'm already sick to begin with) of me getting wet.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the book in my bag. It's ruined and soaked.

Employment

I guess it's worth mentioning that paperwork is one of the things that's a big hassle when finding employment, even if it's part-time employment. Suddenly, you start having all these ATM cards and credit cards...

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Monday, July 12, 2004

Adversity Builds Bridges

If there's anything I've learned in the past few days, it's that strangers, when placed in a hostile situation, will band together against a common enemy. I mean in the job interview yesterday, after undergoing a tense (at least for them) situation, they started talking to me (which I'm happy to oblige). And of course, this has happened over the years, such as applying for Ateneo's publication, Heights.

Too bad it didn't work with the Monopoly game we were playing the other day...

D&D Miniatures

Anyway, for those interested, me and some friends will be playing D&D Miniatures on Wednesday evening, 7 pm, at the Neutral Grounds branch in Glorietta. Feel free to watch or trade minis. =)

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Busy Weekend

Well, that's an understatement. I've been roving around the Ortigas area for the past weekend and getting little sleep at that.

On a side note, I was invited to a certain business opportunity and I did see several familiar faces... working for the company. Well, at least now I know where a couple of ME and MIS students went...

Employed At Last

Finally got to sign the contract today. Of course it was also a strange twist of events that I became a Technical Support Representative instead of Customer Service (so anyone willing to loan me a book on computer hardware?). Strangely enough, I intimidated (i.e. my Atenean degree) a number of applicants (which surprises me).

I guess I'll now move on to more difficult matters. Such as securing my NBI clearance...

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