An Hour Past Dawn

Random Musings

2010-03-17T09:36:00.000+08:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

- A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" by Marianne Willamson

And with that random thought out of my head....back to work! *whapish!*

We ARE the world

2010-02-22T00:37:00.000+08:00

I find myself to be strangely moved by this video.

It's the remake of "We are the World," composed 25 years ago as an effort by artists all across the Western Hemisphere in response to the devastating famine that had Africa in a vise-like grip. The song, written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, eventually sold more than 20 million units and helped raise $63,000,000 for famine relief efforts in Africa.

Now, 25 years later, after the most devastating humanitarian crisis the world has ever faced with the earthquake in Haiti, artists across the world (mostly in the Western Hemisphere) and across musical genres came together to record a new version. The goal? To raise awareness and action for the plight of Haiti. Here are some fast facts (courtesy of Foxnews):

It was the strongest earthquake felt since 1770.
3 MILLION PEOPLE required emergency aid immediately after the earthquake. To give you some perspective, Quezon City's population is about 2.8 million people. So imagine the entire population of Quezon City seriously injured without access to medical care, water, and food.
The forecast is that 10% of the affected people would die of either direct earthquake damage or related effects. That's 300,000 people.

Now the big question is: should we - you and I and everyone in our immediate surroundings - be even concerned by something that a) happened so far away, b) we have no control of, c) can't do anything about, and d) is of a lower priority than the personal and professional problems that we deal with on a daily basis?

The answer to that is yes. We should be concerned. I think the biggest misconception about ANY tragedy that's so huge is that it takes the BIG people to solve it and that it takes BIG acts to fix it.

I don't believe that to be the case. Sure, I personally can't send enough money to Haiti to make a significant difference to the country. Hell, I probably can't send enough money to make a difference in the lives of a couple of people. But maybe the little amount that I donated can help ease the suffering of just one person. ONE person. One is always greater than Zero.

So I guess my personal plea to the few readers that I have in this blog is this: let's care about Haiti and do what we can given what we have. Pass the message to other folks to care about Haiti. Say a prayer or two for the people who have been affected by the quake and a thanksgiving prayer to the people who are directly involved in rescue operations. If you can, make a small donation - there are numerous ways to do so. If you can't donate, then try to write a small message of support to any organization involved with rescue efforts. Or blog about it so we can continue to drive awareness about the issue.

Will this make any difference to the situation in the Philippines, or to our own personal problems and issues? Maybe not now, and maybe not directly. But I firmly believe that the universe will find a way and conspire to return the thought to you.

So say a little prayer for Haiti on top of all the other matters that you pray for. They'll really appreciate it. :)

Priceless!

2010-01-30T03:41:00.002+08:00

I couldn't stop laughing over this one! Mwehehehehe! Happy weekend everyone!

Resolutions 2010

2010-01-17T03:56:00.000+08:00

It's 3:23am and I still can't sleep.

So, rather than just watch TV (nothing good anyway) or play the newest game I got (Borderlands), I hopped onto my desktop and realized that I haven't posted my 2010 resolutions.

As I said in my 2009 review, I didn't come up with a specific resolution for that year, for all the reasons I had mentioned. For 2010 however, given how good 2009 was, I feel that I have to be much more specific now in what I want to achieve so I can keep up this good life, because no matter how good 2009 was, there's always room for improvement.

I ask for forgiveness from my colleagues and friends at my current job, as I'll be using the Principle Based Decision Making framework for my 2010 resolutions. :) Yes yes, geek and all that, I know...

Principle 1: Simplify, simplify, simplify - aka Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (DS3).

I realized that as good as 2009 was, I just took on way too much stuff in my life - as a result, I inadvertedly brought in a lot of unnecessary stress. The line "DS3" is something that my dad always tells us family members whenever we stress ourselves out over things which...well, just won't matter in the long run. And with that as my first guiding principle...

1. Stop the road rage. Seriously. As much as I have improved on this aspect over the past 3-4 years, I still have a long way to go, and I must admit that in 2009 I regressed a bit on this. Let's face the facts: there will always be drivers out there who are a) idiots because they don't know better, b) idiots because even if they know better, they just don't care, or c) idiots because they simply are idiots. As much as I'd love to bonk all of these idiots on the head one by one, I realize that I expend so much energy on cursing these assholes...hence I end up stressing myself for no reason. So, will focus on lessening the road rage.

2. Stop taking on a new hobby unless it's critical. Let's see, right now I have a) photography, b) gaming, c) voracious reading, d) learning a new language (russian), and e) occasionally working out, which is all on top of family and Gail, work, rest, and "me" time. Uh huh. Adding just 1 more to that is just plain crazy and will make me lose focus on the other things I'm already doing. So, will focus on working with my current hobbies rather than taking on new things.

3. Stick to one gaming sytem - and yes, that's my PC. No, I have not decided to sell my Xbox360...yet. But given that I've invested a significant amount of resources on building my new rig, plus the fact that it's performing superbly...why should I spend time on 2 systems when I'm enjoying myself immensely on just one? Not to mention the fact that I've already hooked up the 360's controllers to my new rig...absolutely no need to play the 360 right now.

That is, until Gears of War 3 comes out...

4. Spend a bit more time with the family. Sounds odd to put this under the first principle, but in my experience my folks are super experts in pointing out unnecessary stuff in my life - on that and that alone, why shouldn't I? On another note, I haven't exactly held the World Record for "spending the best quality time with my family" so I figure that it's something worth doing.

Principle 2 - focus more on preparing for the future. The future is fast approaching (yeheess, sounds like a line from a DLSU marketing campaign), and I'm not exactly 18 years old anymore, so I'd rather focus more on preparing for the future - not at the expense of enjoying and learning from the present, of course, but deprioritizing just "living for the moment" as opposed to "enjoying the present but living for the future."

5. Save. Save. Save. And then save up some more. I spent a bit more on myself in 2009 then I had originally planned, so my savings took a dip. Of course, I don't regret a single thing that I had spent on last year - for the stuff I spent on myself, well, my fashion sense did go up a couple of notches from the gutter (many thanks to Gail, Paulo, Anama, Anj, Falqi, Gloria, Jia, and Mars for that!). However, a lot of the things that I bought were impulsive in nature as opposed to a well thought off purchase, so in 2010 I resolve to dump more money into savings rather than buying stuff for myself.

6. Get my back fixed. Yes, my infamous back is...well, back again. I'm not getting any younger, so the earlier I get this fixed, the better. Given my "worst-case scenario" option, I can and should exhaust all possible options before going for that one. And in line with this resolution...

7. Exercise and lose weight via running or yoga. Yes, must stop procrastinating on this. Running is something that I had started in 2009 but since December I had slowed down on this. Must be more consistent - not just to lose weight, but to strengthen my back muscles.

...and yes, you read right, that's Yoga. I was lucky enough to work with Maritoni Tordesillas in one of my current initiatives and she really encouraged me to try 1:1 yoga sessions to get my back strengthened up. So I'll be giving that a shot - again, given the worst case alternative, it's something I'd really want to do.

8. Eat healthily - you ain't 18 anymore. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't eat 15 pieces of kwek-kwek anymore and live to tell the tale (especially since our family's prone to high cholesterol). It's not as if I need to eat like a cow. But proper portion control, down on the sweets, and a little more greens will go a long way.

There you go - 8 resolutions for 2010. Now the only thing left for me to do is to come up with a way to track the progress. :) Hmmm, time to work on another tracker, maybe Falqi can help.....

The Annual Review: Chad in 2009

2010-01-05T23:16:00.000+08:00

2009 was the best year of my life.

(Now how's that for a one-line summary of my blog entry?)

Way back in January 2009, when I started this blog, I only had one promise to myself: that I would live life to the fullest in 2009, and with the way the year turned it, I happily declare that I have achieved my promise to myself.

I would be remiss in not mentioning the details of what made 2009 the best year of my life, so here we go:

1. Living my life as myself. For far too long in my life I've always tried to live up to the world's expectations of myself - hence the statement of some of my friends that I "grew up too fast." In 2009 I decided to stop trying to live up to what everyone wants me to be and just decided to be myself. It was liberating to realize that people who still like and love me for being just me: a bookish geeky guy-next-door. :)

2. Having a much more personal relationship with God. I may not be as active as my mom is in the Church, but since 2009 I've had a much more meaningful and deeper relationship with God. I haven't changed my outward habits - I still go to Church once a week - but my prayers have been more frequent and have been more of "conversations" with Him as opposed to simple requests for help. I find myself thanking Him everyday, literally, for I was so blessed in 2009 and there's so much to be thankful for.

3. My family rocks. Big time. 2009 was not just the year that I got closer to my parents (though there's still some work to be done there!), but it was also a year that my sister and her entire family visited for the holidays. The last time we were all together was in June 2007 and it was such a blast having them over. We did so many things while they were here: had a trip to Cebu, had a birthday dinner for my brother-in-law in Tagaytay, went to Punta Fuego along with some of my cousins, and had a blast during the New Year fireworks. They just left for home a couple of hours back and I must admit to being sad - the house is so quiet now. Granted that it was super noisy when they were here, and it was quite tiring too - but it was FUN. The house had never been so noisy and full of fun that I miss them all - it's going to be quite a long time before we're all together again, and I'll miss them all till that time comes.

4. Gail and her meeting the entire family. How can I not be utterly happy and blessed with Gail? She's the most thoughtful, sweet, caring, loving, patient, and brutally honest (which I absolutely love) person ever. I've never felt so loved an cared for, and the future has never been so bright and clear for me when it comes to spending my life with her. I'm so happy that my parents love her for who she is, and I'm also very happy that she met and spent a lot of time with my sister and her family. Christmas of 2009 will always be remembered as one of my best Christmases ever not just because my entire family was here, but also because Gail spent virtually the entire Christmas holiday season with our family. I can't even begin to describe the joy I have the my family loves Gail for who she is, and that Gail loves my family for who they are. :) What more could one ask for?

5. My true friends. I can count on my fingers and toes the number of friends that I trust with my life - and I consider myself the richest man in the world for them. They stuck with me through thick and thin, something I can never repay them for. Not just that, but I also love how my true friends and Gail have meshed - I'm done with the days where parts of my life are compartmentalized from each other.

6. My career. Yes, despite some setbacks brought about by forces beyond my sphere of influence, I'm still happy with where I am. I must admit to being super sad in the latter half of 2009 as a lot of my close friends have left P&G for other companies; however, I made the choice to make a long term investment in my current job and it's beginning to pay dividends. Definitely a long way to go, but I like where I am (so far) and I like where its going (so far).

2009 was the best year of my life - but given that all the things that I'm thankful for in 2009 are still present in 2010, I'm supremely confident that by this time next year, I'll say that 2010 trumped 2009 in being the best year ever. :)

Till that time comes, I'm going to enjoy 2010 as much as I can. :) Hang out for my next post: Resolutions 2010!

The Massacre and Politics

2009-12-08T01:10:00.001+08:00

It's 12:38am and I'm supposed to be working on a business review, but I got the sudden urge to blog and given my current track record on posting, I decided to go for it while I felt the urge. This is mostly on current events, and this is definitely on the "thinking out loud" POV as opposed to a detailed structured analysis (which I'll be doing in a bit anyway for my business review).

The Maguindanao Massacre - did the Ampatuans really do it?

First of all, let me get one thing out of the way: this massacre is utterly deplorable and the assholes who did it deserve to get sliced into little pieces over a period of 24 months till they finally expire. Anyone who comes up to me and tells me the line "they have rights too!" will get a withering stare from me and a scathing question in the form of "so what about the rights of those who were massacred?" Beings like these do not deserve to exist.

Now, the entire world seems to be convinced that the Ampatuans did it. I....have my doubts. In my head they're the biggest suspects, and my reasons for that are:

1. MOTIVE - killing off the Mangudadatus + their supporters would definitely end any kind of political opposition to their continued dynasty in the area.

2. CAPABILITY - of course the Ampatuans have the capability to execute the damned massacre PLUS they have the capability to cover it up locally.

However, a few things bug me:

1. The motive was way too obvious so naturally the first suspects would be the Ampatuans. It's easy to frame them because if you kill off their opponents, naturally the first suspect would be them.

2. I don't think that the Ampatuans are stupid enough to do the following:

a. Bury the bodies in a mass shallow grave - putting all your eggs in one basket eh?

b. Use a government issued backhoe...and leave it on the site. Brilliant.

c. Bury an huge cache of military-grade arms around your mansion (uh huh) or behind the municipal hall of a town where one of your relatives is a mayor. I mean, seriously. The OCEAN is a few kilometers away, and it's so easy for someone to take all these firearms and dump them in the ocean (assuming that they were used in the massacre and needed to be disposed off) OR place them in some quiet unassuming house somewhere OR bury them in a DISTANT place.

3. With Gloria declaring martial law in Maguindanao and charging the Ampatuans with rebellion - why the need for this? If it was really the Ampatuans, then there's no need to charge them with extra matters that won't hasten or increase the punishment. Does Gloria need them to be a mere scapegoat, and since she knows that the murder charges won't hold, she has to hit them with something else?

a. Of course, there's a counter argument to this - Gloria KNOWS that they did it BUT since she needs them politically, she comes up with a charge that's not as heavy as murder OR something that distracts the public from the murder charges.

My reasons for doubting the guilt as enumerated above are based on the simple premise that the Ampatuans are not, executionally speaking, stupid. I mean, sure, we all know that criminal forensics in this country is pathetically close to zero, but still, the government could get lucky. The crime and the succeeding cover-up was done very sloppily. I mean, I despise the Ampatuans...but are they THAT sloppy?

I don't know. If I were on the jury (assuming we used the jury system), I'd be convinced BUT not completely - the government has not yet convinced me with evidence "beyond reasonable doubt." I need to know more before I can sign their death warrants.

The very nature of this massacre has elevated this incident from a mere criminal case to a political case. Yes, as disgusting as it may be (and I most certainly am disgusted), this is no longer "just" a case of 57 men and women who were killed in cold blood. EVERYTHING has been put on trial here: the government's capability to SOLVE crime, CHARGE the right people, CONVICT them, and JAIL them; the government's political will to go after warlords with private armies; the country's tolerance for the LACK of sustainable action on the government's part to stop violence against journalists; the Executive Branch's power to declare martial law; and freedom in Maguindanao itself.

Adding the fact that the 2010 Presidential elections are fast approaching, and you have something that barely resembles a criminal case anymore. I sincerely pity the men and women of the NBI and the PNP who are working tirelessly to build the case while trying to ignore all the pressure brought about by the politics of the event. It must be tough.

Will this ever get completely resolved? Maybe. I don't have high hopes...but I have my hopes. Will the TRUE guilty parties be punished for this? Maybe so. Will the Ampatuans get punished for this? Definitely. Are the Ampatuans guilty of doing this crime? Most likely...but right now I'm not 100% convinced.

That's what politics does - it muddles up everything.

Rediscovering PC gaming

2009-12-05T21:26:00.002+08:00

I started my foray into gaming with a PC - my folks never believed in buying a console beyond the Atari 2600, so when my dad got a PC for the first time for "schoolwork" I got busy learning how to play games on it. I started on Tetris then moved on to old-school RPG classics such as the D&D "Krynn" series (Champions of Krynn FTW!).

As I started to work, I bought my first PC from Dreamchum Computers (yes, I was an idiot back then for believing in their "value" PCs), then I bought a more powerful rig (Pentium 2.8e with HTT) which lasted me a good 6-7 years. However, when "Gears of War" came out, I joined the bandwagon and bought an Xbox 360, and for the last 2 years I've been playing mostly on my Xbox while my aging PC just sat there, serving its purpose for the occasional RTS game or World of Warcraft.

Lately however, I've just rediscovered my love for PC gaming. And I chalk it up to 3 reasons:

1. A slew of great PC games. Yes, PC gaming is cyclical: it's a long drought of lousy games, followed by a period of great games, and I'm fortunate enough that this period is one filled with great games. In the past MONTH alone, we've seen the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (I played the 1st one on the Xbox 360 and I must say that it's such a sweet feeling to go back to playing FPS games on the PC!), Left 4 Dead 2, and Dragon Age: Origins. In the next quarter or so we'll also be seeing Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Assasin's Creed 2, and Starcraft 2 (sequels much?). Oh man, so many games, so little time.

2. My new rig. Yes, I finally purchased a brand new rig, and it's working just beautifully. For the 1st time I'm playing games on 16xx anti-aliasing with ultra high settings all through out with nary a stutter. I find myself replaying old games just to appreciate the beauty of the game (such as Dawn of War 2 and Assasin's Creed). I'll also be playing the mother-of-all-high-end-rig-game, CRYSIS.

3. Windows 7. Yes, Microsoft's newest OS is working wonders on my new 64-bit rig. Some people (especially Mac diehards) may dismiss Win7 as a mere copycat of Snow Leopard, but I beg to differ. Win7 may have similar features to Snow Leopard, but you get with it out-of-the-box functionality with almost ANY kind of hardware configuration (yes, Apple claims the same with a Mac; however, Snow Leopard works great out-of-the-box with a Mac hardware configuration - achieving the same with Win7 using the literally billions of potential configurations out there with a PC is nothing short of amazing). It works well, and for the first time in my life I had to spend some time learning about how a new Microsoft OS works.

It's a great time to be a PC gamer nowadays, I tell you!

----

On a small sidenote, I am apalled at the unmitigated gall of some people. To do something and to blame alcohol is just pathetic. Being drunk is not an excuse, it's an alibi.

I wish some people would be brave enough to just stand up and say "I made a mistake and I apologize" rather than trying to weasle their way out of it through half-ass explanations and illogical self-contradicting statements and then resort to threats of violence when everything else fails.

Wishful thinking, most of the time. Wishful thinking.

Hello!

2009-11-16T17:22:00.005+08:00

It's been 2 months and 1 day since my last update. *ducks to avoid the heavy stuff thrown at him* Yes yes, my blogging activities have dropped to zilch in these past 8 weeks.

It's not as if nothing's been happening. On the contrary, too many things have happened in the past 8 weeks -- events in my life, my family, Gail, and my close friends. Since my last update Gail started teaching at CSB; Anjy dropped by for a quick visit; Jay had a birthday party; Ondoy wrecked havoc on the country in general (brought to home by the fact that it also hit Gail's house, Jia's house, and a couple of other close friends of mine); Gail and I celebrated her 27th birthday by flying to Singapore...er, Hong Kong; typhoon Pepeng wrecked havoc on the northern part of the country, including the area of Marvin's family; we celebrated my mom's birthday; my dad and Gail got their new cars respectively; Gail and I started to regularly run in my village; I ran my 1st official 5km run; I got my new rig!

And those are just the major events in the past 2 months...that doesn't include the smaller things in life. Nor does it include the nitty gritty details of my career.

After a particularly jaw-dropping moment last Saturday night which left me speechless for a good 5 minutes (yes, the people who know me well know that making me speechless is nearly impossible - I do take after my mom, aka The Generator!), I told myself in an offhand manner that "life is good." I then stopped and did a mental double-take and realized the absolute truth of that statement: life IS currently good. Very good, to be precise. I wasn't in a good place this time last year - when the new year came, I was determined to get my life back on track...and it seems like it did. In spades!

Don't get me wrong: it's not perfect. It wasn't as if the past 8 weeks was nothing but nirvana. It had its ups and downs of course...but (given that I'm a proctoid), if you were to graph the highs and lows, majority of the events fall on the high side.

And that made me close my eyes and give a short but heartfelt prayer of thanks to God for everything: to my family, who has been there for me every step of the way and supports me in the right things and cajoles me on the wrong things; to Gail, for being the sweetest, most loving, most caring, and most supportive girlfriend in the world; to Gail's family for making me feel so welcome in their home; to my close friends - from the office, from W&C, and from my barkada - who make life better and certainly more interesting; to my previous and current bosses at work who really are hell-bent on pushing my career; and to God, for being patient enough with me as I learn.

So yes, there have been so many things happening in my life that I don't get to sit down and blog about them anymore. It's not as if I don't appreciate them - I take the time to review, reflect, and relive new moments in my life during my downtime (while I'm driving haha!). I guess I've become a little bit more private about my reflections about certain things in life and I pick and choose about what I blog about, so I hope you'll forgive me if my blogging frequency has dropped. :)

There are quite a few things that have happened that I'd like to talk about more:

1. RUNNING! - yes, initially for health reasons (both for weight loss, toning, and back-muscle building) but more so for the endorphines lately, Gail and I have been regularly running (and by regularly I do mean a good month and a half already!) at either the Fort or in my village. We've both been running 5km...nothing compared to the likes of Gloria, Anama, and Cathy of course, but it's progress. :) I like how I can put my mind on auto-pilot and just focus on the simple act of putting one foot ahead of the other - it's a great way to clear my mind. Hopefully I get to improve my time for 5km (I'm average 42 minutes while Gail's kicking my ass at 37 minutes!) and to run longer distances!

2. MARKETING! - I was invited by an organization to conduct a marketing planning and strategy session for them next year, and I'm humbled and very excited about it. Since I haven't had the opportunity to teach yet, I'm super excited that I finally can put my marketing experience to good use outside of my current job, and I can't wait to get to it!

3. GAMING! - yes, after a good 7 years since my last major upgrade, and a good 7 months of agonizing between a desktop and a laptop, I finally went ahead and built my gaming rig! An Intel i7 920 processor, an Intel Extreme DX58SO motherboard, an nVidia 9800GT 1GB video card, a 500GB HDD, 4GB of RAM, and 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium = gaming awesomeness in a package! (WARNING: GEEK MODE) Imagine running Dawn of War 2, CoD: Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and The Orange Box on ULTRA HIGH SETTINGS. LEGENDARY!

4. CHRISTMAS! - I'm super excited for Christmas! As in I haven't been this excited in my entire life for the holidays. The entire family's going to be home for the 1st time in quite a while and we're all excited! Gail made me excited for Christmas all the more when she gave me a CD of the Chipmunks Christmas CD - I tell you, that brought back great memories of my childhood when my folks would play the LP of that album during Dec 25!

And with that, I close off this post of mine. Hopefully the next one doesn't take another 2 months! :)

The best goodbye email I've ever read

2009-09-15T16:25:00.004+08:00

It makes you think. :)

---

From:

Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 3:11 PM

To:

Cc:

Subject: Don't sweat the small stuff

My friends (except Jim and maybe you too Clarissa – Don’t laugh, I’m serious (haha)),

Initially, I intended to just slip away quietly but I realized that to do so without acknowledging my friends would be disrespectful and downright rude. As such, this letter is therefore being sent out. We would want to encourage proper behaviour, wouldn’t we?

Someone once said “Kindness is the passport and the proven way for two to journey through a lifetime, each other, or a single summer’s day.” Don’t ask me who, because I don’t know. Google it or something. Haha. I thought it was a good line. (Maybe something you can mention in a first date to impress. Sorry, I digress.) Words of wisdom there. Something I believe should be incorporated in the PVP. Heck, maybe it should replace the PVP. You never go wrong with kindness. I have yet to see it fail.

I have a long memory. I remember acts of kindness much longer than I hold grudges. I want to thank all those who have lent a helping hand, made me laugh, bent backwards, took a blow for me, spoke up for me and watched my back. You know who you are and believe me, all those are stored in my memory bank. I shall return the favour someday. If I myself can’t, the universe in all its mysteries, will proxy for me to maintain the cosmic balance.

I’m not big on promises so you won’t hear any of those “let’s keep in touch” pledges. If you and I want to stay in touch, we will do so given the technology and services at our disposal. If we drift away, then such is the nature of fleeting relationships. I thank you still for the good memories and this farewell was then well made. At least we had our single summer’s day. And if we continue to keep in touch, hell yeah, we just need to put up with each other’s irritating traits much longer. Haha. Of course, I jest.

I have an empty bank account, nothing of importance attached to my name. My earthly possessions are limited to a snorkel, a dive mask, trekking boots, a couple of cameras, an ipod filled with my life’s soundtrack, a braun 790 shaver and more Oral B toothbrushes than I have teeth (of course, I need to endorse my brands. You haven’t heard of loyalty?) Everything I own, I can fit in a bag or two. I have no definite plans yet. I have a few things I intend to work on, things I hope will enable me to feed myself without going back to the corporate world. In all probability, I will most likely starve.

But I choose life. And as hobbits meandering in Middle earth are, life is also short.

A black hole by its very nature will never be filled up. I prefer to build my life on strong foundations where reciprocity is paramount. I choose to live not merely to exist. I want to die falling off a cliff, or drown in deadly rapids, or even with a bullet in the head defending democracy. There are other more noble aspirations in life.

So my friends, I salute you and pay tribute to you. I have wonderful memories with you. May you eventually get what you deeply aspire for. Tonight, when I get home, I will open a bottle of wine and will recall you, all the people who have made my life in this company wonderful. I will drink to each and very one of you. Te Salud!! I mean it.

You know where to find me. I’ll be around.

With my deepest affection,

Gabby

P.S. I leave you with an article I’ve written and was published. Some of you have already seen it. I intend to write more of these. Shoot me an email if you want to be in the distribution list.

Hell Week

2009-09-07T05:35:00.003+08:00

It's 5:35am on a Monday morning as I begin to write this post. Outside, the light from the impending sunrise is beginning to turn the sky a light blue. In a couple of hours I'm flying off to start my hell week.

Hell week, you say? Yes, hell week. It's what happens when the regional president for my brand comes over for a visit. She's the "super ABM" GM who makes everyone turn over their heads when she comes over for a store check and business review, including our Leadership Team (LT). So for the past 2-3 weeks, the entire team has been working really hard to make sure that every big and little thing is covered. And, of course, since I'm the only person who's working on my brand 100% of the time....meh.

Sigh. I guess it just comes with the territory of running an $8 billion dollar brand globally, the largest brand for P&G in the world, the largest country for my brand's category in the region, one of the top 3 brands of P&G Philippines, and the #1 brand in the Philippines in its category. Yes, I repeat all these things to myself when I'm feeling super stressed out coz of the work. I try to convince myself that all the stress is worth it...."try" being the operative word.

So over the next few days, I'll be talking and having meetings with the regional GM, the new GBU MD, and the new GBU BM. Not to mention the fact that beyond presenting to the entire group that includes the MDO LT, this will be my first time to present to the new MDO GM. Meh. Someone up there really decided to ante up in terms of pressure.

A big note of thanks to my Multi Functional Team...you guys rock. Absolutely rock. There is no way that we as an MDO could've pulled off all this preparatory work with such speed and excellence if it weren't for you guys. We shall all dine and drink properly once this week is over!

So in about an hour or so I'm heading off to the airport (yes, despite the bloody holiday today). Gail was kind and sweet enough to offer to take me to the airport to catch my flight, despite the distance and the early hour. The girl is sweet and utterly lovable I tell you. She's stood by my side these past few weeks as I struggled to put my business review and presentation together (sidenote: if anyone bitches that "it's just a business review and presentation" I invite you to join the meetings and see for yourself...P&G business reviews are nothing to sneeze at, much less a business review for my category...! Ok rant over) while running the business at the same time with nary a word of complaint. She supports me not just through words but also through actions. She doesn't need to do big acts or run a major PR campaign...she just goes ahead and does it, with minimal fuss, without the need for public acknowledgement. :) My kind of woman, I tell you. I love the fact that the social aspect of her life, which is inevitably tied to her work, is just exactly that...an aspect of her life and not her life per se. :) I'm glad that the people whom I know and trust (let's see, that would be just about the same number of fingers and toes that I have...!) know exactly who she is and what she stands for.

Thanks so much for being there for me honey, and for all the support and love. :) I love you so much.

So 2 days out of the city, then the 2 days after that will be choke full of meetings, presentations, 1:1s, and the likes. I'm tired of work as it is, and I'll be so glad when this week is over.

Ok, it's 5:54am. Time to pack my bags.

UPDATES!!!!! With PICTURES!!!

2009-08-31T16:34:00.010+08:00

Almost a month has passed since I last updated my blog...*ducks to avoid the glares thrown his way*...and quite a LOT has happened since my last post. Here we go!

A Close Encounter with Cory

No, not in the ethereal sense. :)

I was on my way to see Gail during the day of Cory's funeral procession from The Manila Cathedral to Sucat, and since I take the SLEX heading to Makati, I grabbed my DSLR in the rare chance that I spot something nice enough to shoot. As I drove up SLEX heading to Makati, the people along SLEX kept getting thicker and thicker...so what the heck, I stopped a grabbed a few shots.

I then got stuck in traffic right be fore the Buendia/SLEX intersection coz Cory's funeral procession was near, so I decided to climb on a truck to get a better vantage...and whaddyaknow, she passed right next to the truck! That moment was awesome...right before she passed by, people were noisy, cheerful...a couple of moments before she passed by, people suddenly hushed up in a moment of silence...and as her truck came closer, everyone spontaneously cheered and chanted her name. Awesome, I tell you.

Ella and Paulo

No, they're not together...di sila talo. :P

Ella and Paulo have moved on to...er, greener pastures. Or "to pursue their passions." :P Ella is now working for a company that is uber top tier, while Paulo is now marketing director for a fashion company. We had official despedidas for them in the office, and since we're cliquish, we decided to extend the despedidas to an overnight in Tagaytay!

Dreams and promotions

For Gail, that is. :) She was just promoted and got all the benefits and perks that come with it...well, almost all the benefits and perks. :) Here's hoping the car swap happens! On top of that, she also got accepted to be a faculty member in DLSU-CSB to teach her passion...WINE! (woot) Congratulations honey, I'm so proud of you! You deserve every little bit of happiness that you're getting coz you worked so hard for it! (cozy)

Coron

Organized by the legendary Jillian Sze, a huge chunk of the MDO and our respective significant others went to Coron in Palawan for 4 days of fun! Tiring fun, but fun nonetheless. :) Swimming, snorkling, shipwrecks, hiking, twin lagoons, a safari...FUN!

Paulo also shot some photos of Gail and myself...beautiful!

Till the next update! Hopefully it won't take too long this time. :)

*image credits: Myself (large photos) and Paulo Tirol (small photos)

Icons and Milestones

2009-08-03T10:34:00.004+08:00

[UPDATED] Included 2 photos of Cory Aquino's funeral procession as it drove by 6750. Apologies for the lousy images, I left my DSLR at home and had to make do with a lousy Nokia camera phone.

Aug 1, 2009. A day of contradictions. A day of yin and yang. Insert all the "polar opposite" cliches you want to describe this day - all of them would ring true.

The loss of a national icon - in a day and age where icons are so rare and so needed.

Aug 1 was the day that Cory Aquino, former Philippine President and icon of democracy, passed away due to cardiac arrest. She was 76 years old.

I won't spend time talking about the how's and the why's of Cory's passing, nor will I even attempt to compare and contrast Cory Aquino and her condition with Gloria Arroyo and her condition - Conrado de Quiros did an excellent job of it already.

What I will write about is this country's need - any country's need - for icons.

Every country has an icon - something that represents what the country stands for. The United States has the flag, the White House, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King; the Brits have the Union Jack, Buckingham Palace, the Crown Jewels, and the Royal Family; the Russians have the Romanovs, the Kremlin.

Icons are important because they provide a rallying point for the country. Try defacing an American flag in the US and you'll be lucky if you're not tagged as a terrorist; try denouncing the Crown Jewels in the UK and you'll be lucky if you aren't shot. Icons give the people something concrete to believe in as opposed to just an ideal which is amorphous and exists only in the minds and hearts of the people: to African-Americans in the United States, Martin Luther King was their icon for equality.

Without an icon, a country has nothing. It exists merely as a territory defined by international law filled with people who happen to exist in the same place. A nation without an icon is a nation of zombies.

The Philippines has three icons, in my opinion: the 1st EDSA revolution, the Philippine Flag, and Cory Aquino. And today two icons were merged as the honor guard layed the Philippine Flag - the icon of freedom won through hardship and battle - on the coffin of Cory Aquino - the icon of democracy won through prayer and perseverance.

We already are in danger of losing the icon of the 1st EDSA revolution through the corruption of it's idea and the banality of it being repeated. We are also in danger of losing Cory Aquino as an icon of democracy - icons live on after they die - should we let the people forget about who she was and what she did.

Should we lose these 2 icons, then our last icon, the Philippine flag, is in serious danger of becoming just another piece of cloth.

Aug 1 was the day that our icon of democracy died - but what she stood for and fought for will continue to live on as long as we let it. The day we forget who Cory is will be the day that democracy dies in this country.

2 months together!

On a more personal note, Gail and I celebrated our 2nd month together last Aug 1 as well. It may seem too much of a cliche to celebrate monthsaries, but Gail and I like to take this day as a celebration of us being together. Yes, our being "traditional" in this sense has evoked a lot of BWAAAAARK responses via PLOOOOORK, but I've always believed that it's nice to take a step back every now and then and celebrate the simple act of being together.

Gail and I also had a nice talk as the day ended and again I am humbled and awed by the amount of trust that she has placed in me. I always feel that I have been entrusted with something so precious that there I times I feel as if I don't deserve it. :) But at the end of the day (literally given we had the nice chat at the...er, end of the day!), I have a loving and true girlfriend whom I love completely and she also wants exactly what I want in life - both now and in the future.

And on top of that, she knows how to spell words correctly. :P Ok, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

(woot)(cozy)

Review: Harry Potter 6 The Movie aka Dumbledore is a Damn Shame

2009-07-21T09:40:00.006+08:00

Warning: the following blog post contains massive spoilers for people who a) haven't read the entire HP series, or b) haven't watched the movie. Consider yourself warned.

To give you folks some perspective on my opinions, I think that the entire HP series is pretty lame from a die-hard hard-code sci-fi/fantasy geek. When compared to the Wheel of Time, Dragonlance, even The Lord of the Rings - the HP series absolutely pales in comparison Yes, let's get that out of the way, lest some people start to bash me for picking on "the greatest story ever told." I read the 1st book and about the half of book 2 before I gave up on it entirely - it's a tween-focused series. THEN to give it another shot, I watched the 1st 3 movies. Then I gave up again.

Anyway, I watched the 6th installment with Gail over the weekend and found myself to be pleasantly surprised at certain parts of the movie...only to be completely blown away by the pathetic ending. Absolutely pathetic. Allow me to expound on these 2 seemingly contradicting observations.

Pleasantly surprised since the movie (and the last 2 books as I understand it from reviews) were darker, more "mature," more visceral. Gone (well, almost gone) are the goofy looks on the faces of the 3 protagonists (save maybe for Ron) - instead, you see real human emotion (mostly negative in fact!) brought about by situations that the audience can relate to (for example, the "love triangle" between Hermione, Ron, and that ditzy girl). My favorite though was the actor who played Draco. Absolutely brilliant acting - he was able to convey the impression of the tortured soul who wanted to save himself without so much words (since he barely said anything!) but through his acts and facial expressions.

Absolutely massively disappointed with [MAJOR SPOILER ALERT] the way Dumbledore was killed or, to be more precise, the way Dumbledore staged his entire death. Absolutely pathetic. As I said, I'm looking at this from a die-hard sci-fi/fantasy reader. Let's take a step back and see how things happened in the movie (which app

arently was pretty faithful to the book).

Dumbledore casting a massive Firestorm spell in the dungeons prior to getting killed in Hogwarts

Dumbledore shows off the reason for being acknowledged as "the most powerful wizard living" by casting a massive Firestorm spell to nuke those ~300 undead whatevers that are attacking the island he's on (and incidentally to save Harry as well!). Kudos to the filmmaker for the excellent cinematography in that scene - it really conveyed the impression that Dumbledore was the shiznit. He really showed them who was boss.

Now, we jump to the scene right before his death. He's surrounded by a) 3 deathstrikers, b) Draco Malfoy, a student, and c) Snape, the double agent. Let's see, that's 5 vs the ~300 undead he nuked a while back. Sure, he was hurt by the potion he drank (but he already had ingested the potion when he casted that Firestorm spell, so...) and casting the travel spell was probably draining as well. And of course these 5 enemies were by far more powerful than those 300 undead...so let's take that into account as well.

How does Dumbledore die? ONE SHOT. One bloody shot from Snape that pushes him off the edge to his death. Sure, it COULD happen. Yes, he had to die so Snape would be trusted. But seriously. The most powerful wizard living. Disarmed by a STUDENT. Killed by one shot. Wtf. Allow me to compare him to:

Raistlin Majere of the Dragonlance Chronicles. He challenged

the Dark Queen of Krynn herself (goddess of evil) by a) entering her domain, the Abyss, b) literally fighting ALL of her minions, including dark clerics, demons, evil dragons, and the undead, and c) fighting her at the end of it all. AND HE WON! But when he realized through his brother that if he continued with this, the entire world would die (and he would have nothing to rule over), he went back in time and allowed himself to be killed by the Dark Queen - after laying waste to her entire domain.

Lews Therin Telamon of the Wheel of Time. He challenged the Dark One himself PLUS 13 of his greatest generals (aka the Forsaken) and won, BUT he had to sacrifice his sanity to do so.

Gandalf the Grey in his battle vs the BALROG. He sacrificed himself to kill the Balrog but in the end, he DID kill the damn thing.

...and in comes Dumbledore, the most powerful living wizard, killed with one shot. I'm sorry, but whatever gains the movie/book made with being made more dark was utterly ruined by the absolute pathetic way they killed him off. Make him fight, for crying out loud. Give him some dignity in his death, even if he planned it. Raistlin, Lews Therin, and Gandalf all willingly threw away their lives (as did Dumbledore) for the greater good - but they did it without putting their fellow wizards to shame.

Dumbledore is a pussy.

Rant over. :)

image credits: http://home.earthlink.net/~estwilde/arctic.html and http://hpfvc.co.cc/site/2008/07/new-hbp-photos/

The Month of June

2009-06-21T13:54:00.006+08:00

It's only 21 days into the month of June and things have been...momentous. :) Quite a few things have happened, so allow me to tell you all about it.

June 1 - The end of the diabolical plan/The start of something big
On the 30th day of the diabolical plan, Gail and I got together officially...and it seems that the world celebrated with us. :) People were asking what would be different between pre-June 1 and post-June 1, and truthfully, the only difference would be that we could now be public about how we feel for each other.

30 days, 30 envelopes...and the scrapbook that binds it all together. :)

We're still learning about each other, and no, we're both not perfect people. But we've both accepted the fact that we're both imperfect...yet both our strengths and weaknesses seem to compliment each other. We remain to be two separate individuals, each with our own identity. But as things go, we're both on the same page as to what we want with our lives, with each other, and with our future. So just like before, we're taking this one day at a time...but this time, together as an official couple. :) And yes, I'm crazyhappy...finally, I understand what Kristel means.

A shoutout of thanks to everyone who's been super supportive of both Gail and myself, both as individuals and as a couple. :)

June 2 - Level up to 30
I officially turned 30 years old last June 2, and it was....well, fun! :) I didn't really know what to feel about the fact that I was turning 30...and as I usually do, I overanalyzed it to death. But as the big 3-0 date approached, I realized that there's no reason to be sad or depressed or anything. In fact, there are a lot of reasons to be happy - I have a loving supportive family, I have Gail whom I love and loves me as well, I have a few but great friends, I'm (relatively) healthy (spine nonwithstanding!), have a good career, I'm financially capable, and I have the entire future ahead of me. :) There's absolutely no reason to be sad or depressed at all.

We had a very simple celebration that day - I was on leave from the office, and Gail was thoughtful enough to go on leave that day too. I had brunch with my mom, then I spent the day with Gail, then we had dinner with my mom and dad at Cafe Caruso. :) A simple perfect day.

I also got a few kickass gifts! :) My dad got me started on something I wanted to save up for, my mom got me my DSLR battery grip, and Gail got me the Belkin n52te gaming accessory (yes, my geekiness just burst forth when I saw it - I'm going to post a separate review shortly!).

June 13 - Goodbye Nokia (sorta), hello HTC
Though I mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to get the upcoming N97...I hesitated. Based on reviews, it seems to be living up to its hype, and I was able to handle it for myself, so it seems to be a very good phone...but it's a Nokia. :) It's still SymbianOS. As much as I think that it's the best mobile OS...I was scared that I'd get bored with it (as I found myself getting bored with Nokia phones in the past 2-3 years). Ever since the N95 came out, I found myself getting terribly bored with the succeeding Nokia phones (even with the E90 that I have - yes it's a very good work phone...but it's hardly the most exciting phone in the world). So I looked around, read some reviews, and decided on getting a phone from HTC.

Yes, HTC, which runs on Windows Mobile. I'm surprisingly enjoying it -- and yes, I'm eating my words about how WinMo is lousy. :) WinMo 6.1 seems to be a far cry from WinMo 5.0, and the improvements are very significant. I found myself feeling excited to explore my phone, try out it's new features, learn about the new OS...when I realized that I hadn't felt this was about a new phone since the P990i. Sure, I was excited about the N95, but when I thought about it, I was excited about the 5mp camera and the GPS specifically...everything else was the standard Nokia phone.

I'm going to post a detailed review about it soon enough, so hang in there.

June 21 - Father's Day
It may sound a bit mundane, as we're celebrating Father's Day the same way we do every year: my mom treating my dad and myself for dinner - save for one thing: my mom invited Gail to join us without any prompting or anything. :)

I'm very very happy that my mom and dad seem to have accepted Gail easily into the family - one of the lessons I've learned is that whomever I would be with has to be someone who's willing to go forth and get to know my family and hopefully get close to them - even if I'm not around. :) Gail was thoughtful enough to get my dad a Father's Day present (and my mom and Mother's Day present back in Mother's Day as well), and mom, out-of-the-blue, just told me that she wanted Gail to join us for dinner tonight. It's very important for me that my nuclear family and Gail get to know each other and be comfy around each other, and things seem to be moving in the right direction. :)

-----
Yes, June's been a busy month, and there are quite a few things to be thankful for. :) Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get ready - I'm picking up Gail in about an hour or so for the dinner tonight. See you! :)

"Yet"...

2009-06-01T21:02:00.000+08:00

...is no longer the operative term indeed. :)

*bouncing off the walls and ceiling* :D

Restlessness...

2009-05-22T17:30:00.005+08:00

...is exactly what I'm feeling right now. Why? Beats the crap out of me. For some insane reason I wanna chuck my (brand spankin' new) laptop out the window and just walk out of the office.

Must be the fact that it's a Friday. I think I just need to disconnect from work for a while and just...I don't know, walk around the mall and vege a bit.

Given my state of restlessness, I think I shall blog about a multitude of things.

The need to impulse buy something techy.
Yes, I'm quite proud of myself coz I haven't bought a tech item...actually, ANYTHING...on impulse since last year. I do believe my last impulse purchase was my DSLR, which make it a YEAR since I bought anything on impulse.

Don't get me wrong. This is a good thing. Good because it allows me to save up on money as opposed to buying something that's nice-to-have but ultimately could've waited.

It's a bad thing because a) it shows that I'm getting old (dammit) by being mature over my expenses, and b) since I haven't done this is a long time, I might end up making a BIG impulse purchase to make up for the lost time.

I actually have a hypothesis as to why I'm feeling this way. Which leads to...

I need a new mobile phone, and the N97 is taking forever to arrive.
I have 2 phones (the left and the right...eh heh), one for my work life and one for my personal life. My work phone is about 1.3 years old (and looks like it's 13 years old due to heavy usage) and is working perfectly (you gotta love Nokia Communicators). My personal phone is 2.5 years old (or so) and looks like it's 25 - my beloved N95. The reason why I still haven't bought something to replace it is because it took Nokia bloody 2.5 years to come up with something new and exciting enough to actually WANT it to be replaced. And it's taking the N97 forever to show up (it's coming in July according to my good old friends in Nokia regional and global). Sure, I was toying with the idea of getting an Xperia X1, but the WinMo 6.1 was a turnoff (so that throws the HTC line out the window) and Samsung Omnia HD was coming out at the same time as the N97, so...

Bottomline: July better hurry up.

My new office laptop rocks.
The good old office was considerate enough to provide me with a newer lighter more powerful laptop to replace the one I had which was HEAVY. Given my scoliosis, they immediately purchased a new one.

It helps that one has LT backing behind requests such as these mwehehe.

They gave me an HP EliteBook 2530p and it's a nice upgrade to my previous laptop, the Compaq 6150c. Running on Centrino 2, sporting more memory, a DVD-RW, and (I kid you not) an integrated light bulb to use when it's too dark to see your keyboard, it's light enough at 3.75lbs to avoid backbreaking instances yet powerful enough to run WOW at decent speeds and graphic levels.

Good thing the office gave me a pretty damn good laptop, or I would've been tempted to buy a personal laptop...

Running running running
Good for my health (keeps up the trend on my weight loss), good for my wallet (running is cheaper than going out!), good for my back (it strengthens my back muscles, especially the ones along the spine), and good for the environment (running's better than gas guzzling around the city!). Must keep it up!

Honesty

2009-05-16T10:13:00.006+08:00

One of the decisions I made when I decided to live again was to be as honest as possible - to others and to myself especially. My principle in life is "honesty, in the long run, will always be better."

Honesty is difficult...hence the phrase "as possible." Not that it's a blanket excuse that I utter every time I find myself in a situation where I chose to not become honest. But admittedly, honestly is difficult. You're sometimes torn between being honest for the sake of your principles OR potentially lying because a) it would be easier for you, or b) you feel it's what the person needs.

Let me try to tackle those 2 things one by one:
1. It would be easier for you.
Let's face it - 90% of the times that we're not honest is because it would be so much easier for us. Heck, I'm guilty of this. I must admit, sometimes it would be so much easier for me to tell my folks a white lie or two when I'm going out, just to save myself the trouble of getting a mini-sermon. Or it would make my life easier at work if I told a little white lie. It's quick, it's easy, it saves you time and effort, it saves your reputation, etc.

But just because it's quick and easy for you doesn't mean it's wrong.

Ok, hell no am I going to be preachy and tell everyone to stop saying white lies...for one thing, I'm guilty of this myself, and there is no way in hell that I have sufficient moral authority to do so. I can't even get myself to stop this, what more others?

But getting used to being dishonest because it would be easier for you is a slippery slope. Kinda like drugs. You start with something weak and easy ("don't panic, it's organic!") and then you start moving on to the bigger heavier things.

Getting used to being dishonest because it makes things easier for you is a dangerous path to walk. It'll eventually lead to bigger things. Pretty soon, you'll cross a line which you never thought you would all in the name of "convenience."

I'm trying to lessen this. "Trying" being the operative word. It helps that I have a much better and closer relationship to my family and close friends now - I can be much more open about what I think and feel and, contrary to my earlier feelings, I never get judged for it. True, sometimes it gets me in hot water, but hey, at the end of the day, the feeling of being honest truly compensates for any trouble I might have gotten into.

2. You feel it's what the other person needs.

Ah, here's a more difficult moral decision. Do you lie because you think the truth will hurt the person, whether emotionally (simply by knowing the truth) or physically (because the act of telling the truth will potentially cause damage or pain or injury to the person) or intellectually (because the truth will set into motion a series of events which will lead the person to doubting him/herself)? This is indeed a tough call to make. There are a myriad of factors to consider, and no two situations are the same. So making the blanket statement "you should always tell the truth, no matter the potential consequences" isn't really applicable right?

In my personal opinion, I disagree.

My principle stays the same: honesty, in the long run, will always be better. No matter how much one justifies it, no matter how much one thinks about it, in the end, there is no reason that will justify a lie. Even if you think or feel that it's what the person needs.

For one thing, who are we to judge what is better for the other person? True, there may be exceptions in certain cases (e.g. a parent deciding for a child who's not yet emancipated), but by and large, who are we to position ourselves as someone who decides what's good or bad for someone?

Remember, that person whom you're thinking of telling a lie to does not have the full and complete picture. Hence he/she may make ill-informed decisions that affect the rest of his/her life. Were we not taught in school that decisions are best made when all available information is brought out into the open?

This reason, for me, is very difficult because most of the times the decision to not be honest (in these kinds of situations) is made with (hopefully) the very best of intentions. I do not judge these people to be evil. After all, who would want to see someone hurt, whether physically or emotionally? No one, save for the most evil of people, wants to see other people hurt. Especially if it's a family member or a loved one. Hence sometimes they decide to be dishonest to "spare the other person the pain."

But doesn't that justification fall under reason number 1? That the reason why you're not saying the truth is because YOU don't want to feel bad about causing pain or trouble to the other person? That it makes it easier for you since you don't have to put yourself through the pain and guilt of seeing the other person be affected by this?

Not an easy thing huh? Trust me, I'm getting a headache myself going through this moral quandary.

But at the end of the day, this moral quandary can be avoided with one simple act: tell the truth. The complete and utter truth. True, you may end up hurting the other person - but at least the person knows the truth. The person will eventually face up to it anyway - which means the pain will always be there. I think one reason why people decide to do this is because they sometimes underestimate the mettle of the people they decide to tell the lie to. In my opinion, and in my own personal experience, people are a lot tougher than they appear to be. Trust them enough that they can handle the truth and the consequences of learning about it.

Of course, there is a right place and right time to tell the truth (you don't tell someone something life changing while he/she's in the middle of a huge meeting of course!), but at the end of the day, the painful truth will always be better than a lie told in the name of "not getting the other person hurt."

Ok, enough introspection for one day. This is what I get for waking up at ungodly hour on a Saturday. *yawn*

*image credit: www.lolcats.com

The Prequel to the Prequel...which is actually a sequel

2009-05-13T10:58:00.005+08:00

Ok, confusing title, I know.

I had some questions about the latest Star Trek movie...
...how did the Narada, a mining ship, manage to beat off 47 Klingon warbirds and 7 Starfleet vessels...?
...if a supernova destroyed Romulus, why didn't anyone get enough warning time to evacuate, like, I don't know, a couple of hundred million years advanced warning...?
...why didn't the Vulcans have any orbital defenses...?
...where were the 6 billion Vulcans...?

Apparently JJ Abrams released "Countdown" a comic that tells the story of everyone the start of the movie. The story actually begins 8 years after the events in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis and does a fine job of answering some of the questions above.

Next up is an analysis on the military aspects of the movie - which, as cool as it looked like, was actually...er, pathetic.

Yes, my geekiness is in full swing!

*image credit: startrek11.blogspot.com

Movie Review: Star Trek

2009-05-12T16:38:00.008+08:00

Yes, my geekiness will really come out in this post. Consider yourself forewarned.

Let's get one thing straight: I loved the movie. I really admire JJ Abrams for being able to turn a cult classic into something that appeals to both the mainstream crowd (some who have never even seen a Star Trek movie!) and the geeks (such as myself). Action packed yet has just enough emotional scenes (both sad and funny) to make the characters all the more real. Which is important, because what made Star Trek so famous was not really the technology - it's really about the characters and how they used the technology in the story.

But, as I'm a geek, there are quite a few inconsistencies with generally accepted Star Trek canon - though in no way do these inconsistencies rob the story of it's greatness.

1. The U.S.S. Enterprise was built in spacedock, not on Earth - starships in the time of Jim Kirk, especially starships in the Constellation class (of which the original Enterprise is from), are not capable of surviving atmospheric flight - one reason being their weight. Also, it was generally considered to be much safer to have it built in orbit because of the extremely hazardous nature of dilithium crystals (which powers the warp core, which is the reason why starships can travel faster than light) which would potentially cause havoc on the planet. Even in the Enterprise D (commanded by Jean-Luc Picard some hundred years in the future from Kirk) could not survive atmospheric flight, though the saucer section could survive long enough to make planetfall - though it could never fly again under its own power.

2. Starfleet never had "rapid-fire" torpedoes - space combat in the movie was a chaotic thing, filled with phasers firing constantly and torpedoes being launched in rapid-fire. Starfleet never had rapid-fire torpedoes, and the original Enterprise only had 1 torpedo launcher (forward launcher). The Enterprise D has 4 photon torpedo launchers - 2 fore, 2 aft.

3. Each ship during Kirk's time had their own logo - Starfleet only adopted the use of Enterprise's logo AFTER Kirk made the ship famous, unlike in the movie, when Starfleet was using the Enterprise logo as the official logo.

4. The original Enterprise only had room for 2-3 shuttles at the most - yet in the movie, we saw about 6-8 shuttles docking in the shuttle bay.

5. The original Enterprise did not have "touchpads" for controls, just keys and buttons - Uhura preferred keys and buttons because you knew that when you clicked something, it actually was done, as opposed to touchpads where you didn't know it was being done.

6. Engineering was not that big - the engineering room was portrayed as a...well, HUGE room filled with large tanks and the likes. It was only in Enterprise D that engineering had a 2-level room, the original Enterprise just had a smaller room to begin with.

7. Each starship only carries one warp core - not multiple ones as in the movie. The dumping of a warp core was a last ditch safety measure in case the warp core was going to go critical - and there's only one (as multiple warp cores don't necessarily mean faster travel).

But beyond those inconsistencies (hell, Gloria didn't know anything about them yet she enjoyed the movie!), the movie was absolutely great. :) Kudos to JJ Abrams for a job well done. Now, I wonder what's going to happen with the sequel...

Of apothecaries, boxers, and a diabolical plan

2009-05-04T00:53:00.006+08:00

After suffering for about a week or so of steady tooth pain, I was felled by an astronomical level of HURT last Wednesday night by my tooth. So much so that I had to a) take a sick leave from work and NOT work from home (that has only happened once before, if I remember correctly), b) take a double dose of anti-pain meds (I felt like Gregory House when I popped in those pain pills), and c) cover my head with a pillow as I moaned out loud in pain (I never do).

Ah yes, Wednesday night was hell. I had a feeling that 1 of the 4 nerves in my tooth died on me.

I rushed to get my panoramic x-ray and made an immediate appointment with my dentist. I was really dreading the visit - aside from my innate fear of dentists, I was going to get a root canal for the first time in my life. I've heard all the horror stories and, quite frankly, I was quaking in my boots.

Gail was so sweet, she dumped all her work on that Thursday to accompany me to my x-ray and my back doctor (more on that later) and on Saturday, May 2, she walked with me into the dentist's clinic to get my root canal, which I anticipated to last about 3 hours.

The procedure took less than an hour, it was done so excellently that I felt only a small amount of pain (more of discomfort actually), and I actually survived the procedure. My dentist was just AWESOME. I highly recommend him. Pricey (thank god for medical insurance!) but well worth the expense. He was just absolutely awesome. Case in point, he had me so relaxed during the operation, I was able to check my Facebook while I was having the procedure.

I have to go back for a couple of more visits just to make sure that the canal's all cleaned up before he puts a permanent cap. And I might have to get my wisdom tooth extracted because it's impacting my affected tooth. But I feel so much more relaxed now.

---
Part of my Thursday medical day was to get my x-rays checked by a back specialist. I think I'm lucky with doctors - after getting an awesome dentist, I get an awesome back doctor. Think of him as Gregory House, but minus the perpetual pain and cane. He's obviously smart, he's straight to the point, he explains things sufficiently enough to satisfy the geek in me.

Of course, my folks don't really like what he recommended as an ultimate solution, but they were reassured by his calm confident demeanor. I'm going to get myself a gajillion more opinions, but if ever things progress, I want THIS apothecary working on me.

Gail was again sweet enough to accompany myself and my mom during this visit. I'm happy that my folks, especially my mom, gets to meet and talk and spend more time with Gail. When things progress and get...er, official, I really would like my folks and Gail to really know each other.

More on my back once I get more info!

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I won't write much about the very...er, short Pacquiao-Hatton fight, since it a) lasted just 2 rounds, and b) it wasn't really a fight. It was a massacre. That was like pitting one Imperial Guard soldier vs one Adeptus Astartes. It was one-sided.

So, who's next for the Imperial Fist Manny Pacquiao?

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Gail has activated her diabolical plan. I am flabbergasted, awed, happy, nervous, and most of all, humbled. All I can say is that it's going to be an interesting time, to say the least.

Shooting in the RAW

2009-04-24T10:58:00.004+08:00

No, that doesn't mean I'm going to be doing a photography shoot in my birthday suite. :P

I'm going to be shooting for Gail again tonight at her Wine Event, but this time, I'm going to be shooting it in RAW format (ok fine, along with an L sized .jpg file as a backup in case I screw up in post-processing). You see, I decided to really take these events as serious practice sessions - in previous events, I would merely focus on getting the right composition and lighting. Now I've decided to really treat it super seriously even from a post-processing standpoint.

I always thought that shooting in the RAW just meant a fantastically large file with absolutely no benefit - then I started expermenting. You see, shooting in RAW format (.cr2) means that the camera processor doesn't do any processing and compression (hence the large file size) as it writes the image to the memory card. It writes the image as it sees it, which allows for better flexibility in post-processing. You get to apply and fine-tune your WB settings, your RGB settings, and even color saturation.

Hopefully, this *should* make my pictures look so much better, as I'll be relying on my judgment in post-processing as opposed to just letting the camera do all the work. This will involve more effort on my part, but hey, I *did* promise myself I'd take this as a serious hobby.

A thousand thanks to Gail for letting me moonlight as a photographer in her events! W00t! :D

Save our language!

2009-04-20T18:06:00.003+08:00

Yes, and this comes from a MASS COMM graduate.

God save our language.

-----
hi XXX! hhhm, im speaking for myself. i dont know what te XXX or te XXX thinks.
but id be willing to give cscst until tuesday. let's see muna.
ung swu, wala na rin e. so, lets see kung what cscst can produce.
please follow up them next week ha.

ang poster.. te XXX, in-corporate nlng nato ang design sa ubos na gi-make ni XXX ug katong sa edited nga logo something ni rankine.
kay ang ka-XXX, nana man mga details. whatchathink??

XXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXX
BA Mass Communications
University of the Philippines

Fussing

2009-04-15T10:18:00.002+08:00

During my 41 hours in Baguio during the past Holy Week, my cousin Brian infected me (yes, INFECTED is the right term since he sneezed in my direction) with the colds and cough and fever. So I was sick on Sunday and Monday, being sufficiently wasted to actually leave the office early on Monday. Before I went home, Gail brought me to her place and prepared some chicken soup for me and generally fussed over me since she was concerned over my being sick.

Prior to this, during my first karting experience, I accidentally brushed my right forearm against the engine as I was getting up (I didn't really trust the steering wheel to be able to handle my....er, gravity pull so to speak) and, as a result, got a very small first degree burn that's about the diameter of a 1-peso coin. Gail had us stop by Mercury Drug (since she was out of betadine and big bandaids at home and Doc Harry, much to his chagrin, did not carry a sample in his pocket...MEDIC!!!!!) to get some supplies then we went over to her place where she cleaned my wound, applied betadine, and put some bandages over the wound so it would be protected.

In a nutshell, she's been fussing over me as I was injured and sick in 2 separate occasions in the past 2 weeks. And I'm not used to it anymore.

It was an odd feeling to have someone worry about you just because you were sick or injured. From where I was coming from, I had steeled myself over the past year or so to not expect or depend on other people for help or sympathy (beyond the norm) whenever I was sick - and since I'm the type of person who gets sick easily but gets well easily (as opposed to some folks who rarely get sick, but when they do, are bedridden for about 1-2 weeks), I had a lot of opportunities to get used to it. Also, as a habit, I rarely if ever inform my parentals about my being sick because they just worry to the high heavens, as parents are prone to do (which often includes a mini-sermon from my dad about taking better care of myself - yes, that's how my dad expresses his love for me!). So the usual habit for me was to pop a few meds, drink a lot of liquids, and just try to sleep it out till I get better after a couple of days - no fuss.

An odd feeling it may be, since I haven't had anything like this in quite some time - but I must admit that it's a nice feeling to have someone fuss over you. Some doctors MAY argue that it doesn't do anything to make you get better, but it sure does make me FEEL better - which, in my book, is half the battle.

So a big thanks to Gail for fussing over me - you may think that you're not doing enough, but trust me - you are. MORE than enough. :)

And yes, that's definitely a good thing. :)

Holy Week Travel

2009-04-12T18:14:00.002+08:00

The Holy Week just ended, and I fully expected to spend it as I spent the last 5 Holy Weeks - staying at home. You see, in this great country of ours (for the foreign folks who read my blog), Holy Week is also known as the Great Traffic Jam Outside of Manila. Almost everyone travels to visit relatives or to just take a vacation.

Not me - I always treated Holy Week as a break from the world, so I usually just spent it at home with the parentals. We would just go do the traditional visita iglesia OR do the Stations of the Cross on Maundy Thursday and stay at home on Good Friday.

This year, however, my dad requested that we all go to Baguio, as it's his last year before he officially retires from his office. So I said "why the hell not?" and decided to go with them - then they told me that we would be leaving on Maundy Thursday.

Good Lord. That's the equivalent of taking a nice quiet stroll at the Korean DMZ.

To make a loooooong trip short, the trip to Baguio took us 9 bloody hours. Yes, 9 hours to travel 300 kilometers (which included an hour's worth of lunch). To give you perspective on how bad it was, during my last trip to Pagudpod (~600 kilometers from Manila), it took me 8 hours to get there.

Plus I forgot to fully charge my iPod. Argh.

The trouble spots were NLEX because of a) numerous stalled vehicles, especially one that involved an 8 car pileup, b) the long line at the Dau tollway (5 kilometers!), and c) the SCTEX toll entry from NLEX (25 minutes!). To be fair to the NLEX management, they did an excellent job of managing the traffic during Holy Week - all stalled vehicles had at least one patrol car along with the proper orange cones for safety, AND at the Dau tollway, they were physically managing the traffic by coordinating the merging of cars as one approaches the tollway itself. PLUS they had numerous employees ranging ahead to collect toll fees. PLUS they all had a positive cheery demeanor that you really didn't feel the urge to lash out at them. The NLEX problem was really brought about by the volume of cars - which, given that it was the middle of Holy Week, should've been expected.

SCTEX was another matter. For some insane reason, it took us 25 minutes to get our toll card - we were debating why it was taking so long (my mom was saying that maybe they were collecting the payment already) but as we arrived at the toll, the lady did *something* to the card (either swiped it OR printed something, since I heard a dot matrix printer) then handed it to me. It took her about 7 seconds to do that - which, in my opinion, was idiotic. Why do you need to do something to a card that comes from just ONE location and the payment system was based on where you entered?! The SLEX system uses the same payment system - but when you get up to the toll, they just hand you a magnetic card that's pre-encoded with the entry point where it was handed out. No fuss, no delay. SCTEX should fix that system - it was the one fault that they had.

Anyhow, after spending just 41 hours in Baguio (yeheesss, let's talk about payout, shall we?), we zoom zoomed to Manila, which took us just 6.5 hours. Not bad at all.

It would've been great if I was able to bring Gail along - but as my mother said, "since Chad and Gail aren't official yet, no one can bring their respective significant others as well." *lol* Now if that isn't an endorsement, I don't know what is. :P

Allow me one rant though, about motorcycles.

Everyone knows how motorcycles behave in this country - no need to go into that much detail about their generally despicable driving ethics. But take note of this pic:

Pardon the lousy shot, I had to shoot it through the tinted windshield of my dad's car.

Now if you're going to drive like a moron without any regard for manners or the proper and safe way of driving a motorcycle, at least have the effin' decency to wear a HELMET. Now, if you like living on the edge, that's fine - hey, it's your moronic life, not mine. But for the love of all that's holy - if you're going to compound your idiocy by making your CHILDREN ride a motorcycle with you, at least have THEM wear a bloody helmet!

*growl*

Ok, rant over.

It's been a while since I've purposely gone out for a photo shoot - hmmmm. Must schedule one soon. My DSLR's glaring at me already for ignoring it.

Of dogs and karts

2009-04-08T07:08:00.000+08:00

Gail and I lead very disparate yet busy lives at work - Gail's job is about 20% office work and 80% fieldwork, involving restaurant visits everyday, and since most restaurants start to function at lunch time or in the afternoon, her work inevitably takes her all the way to the late evening.

I, on the other hand, have the more regular (a.k.a. "boring" in some circles!) work schedule of a roughly 9ish to 7ish in the evening. It's choke full of meetings and data analysis and more meetings, with the occasional fieldwork (both consumer and trade) about once every 2-3 weeks or so.

Needless to say, both of us have very busy work lives, so as much as possible, we try to "vege" it out during weekends or holidays. Which is exactly what we did during this long weekend prior to the Holy Week.

Last Monday, Gail and I decided to have a "Day of the Dog" and took Wuffles (Gail's shitzu) out for a walk at the Makati Salcedo park initially. Given Wuffle's perpetual state of hyperactivity, we figured that she'd enjoy the wide open spaces of the park...unfortunately, no dogs are allowed in the actual park itself. Boo! So we just took her around the park and nearby places.

Yes, Wuffles actually knows how to pose for the camera!

Taking turns!

*pant* *pant* *wheeze* *smile for camera*

After numerous incidents of "marking her territory," we decided not to push our luck and headed off to Gail's neighborhood for part 2 of the Day of the Dog. We toured Gail's place, which is an amazing neighborhood of contrasts - you'd see a wide range of house styles that seem out of place but they blend in really well. I wasn't able to take any shots as I opted to leave my camera in the car (given the numerous dogs that would range across the streets of her neighborhood, we had our hands full with Gail occasionally picking up Wuffles and myself attempting to stop other canines from pouncing on Wuffles!).

What's funny is that I'm quite familiar with her neighborhood from a work perspective - I had done numerous trade and consumer fieldwork in her area, from the Puregold to the public markets and side street sari-sari stores to the different fast food restaurants where we would have lunch. Again, it's pretty damn amazing that Gail and I had numerous - and I do mean numerous - opportunities in the past to have met up but never did. Whodathunk...

We ended the Day of the Dog after about 1.5 hours as Wuffles was panting like nothing...when we got back to Gail's place, Wuffles just ran to her water dish (despite giving her a lot of water while walking in Salcedo) and afterwards plopped down on the floor to rest. Gotta give it to the dog for being a very well-behaved trooper!

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Another thing we did to "vege" happened just last night - at the invitation of Gail's good friend Uichi, we decided to go karting! W00t! It was myself, Gail, Doc Harry, Uichi, and Uichi's cousin Jen (thanks Gail!).

Gail with Doc Harry (1st pic) and Uichi (2nd pic). Yes, the price of being a photographer is not appearing in your own pics...!

*zoom zoom!*

It was my first time to go karting, and damn it was fun! I was a bit hesitant at first since I still had to figure out the dynamics of the kart, but after a couple of rounds I was zooming down the track! Of course, I wasn't as good as Uichi (who must've lapped me at least twice!), but I'll get there with enough practice - and hell yeah am I coming back for more!

It's a nice gimmick for team building - P300 for 12 minutes, which may seem to be short, but I think it's just right. Any longer and the fun factor would go down and the pain factor would go up. Yes, pain - these karts aren't exactly equipped with power steering, so work out those laterals! But it's definitely worth it, so try it out for yourself!

Ok, enough blogging while at the office (ah heh!). Time to start working!

A different perspective on things

2009-03-29T19:53:00.000+08:00

I had quite a busy day last yesterday (which was a Saturday). Did a mad dash with Gail around 4 events as part of her job's networking requirement. We started off in Prince of Jaipur for some model fashion show (where Gail introduced me to Max, the owner - one hell of a character!). Then off to Embassy for their 4th Year Anniversary (where we bumped into Anama, Gloria, Delbert, Karen, and 2 of Gloria's Nestle friends! Woot!) where we spent a total of, what, 30 minutes? :P Then a mad dash to Ascend to join Doc Harry and Jerome in Wave 89.1's 8th Year Anniversary, then finally a quick stop at Martini Bar for their 1st Year Anniversary. Phew!

And yes, this is still CHAD'S blog. :) You didn't mis-click or something.

"Chad? THE Chad? Clubbing? Going around different places? What the hell!?!?"

Yup, it's me. Despite my preference that I'd rather have a good conversation over a steaming cup of coffee, I've learned in the past few months that hey, occasionally, it's nice to just go around and just have fun. :D I've met so many different people in the past few months I still scratch my head trying to remember them all. I've met quite a few of the people that Gail tells me about in her stories, so I'm happy to be able to put faces to names. I'm also glad that experiencing this part of Manila's life has given me better perspective on Gail's work and social life - it makes me know and understand her more, and that's always a good thing.

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Another thing that was part of my busy day yesterday was my going to church with Gail at her church! It was a first for me - I must admit to feeling a little bit of trepidation as I entered (not knowing what to expect despite being briefed about it by Gail) but once service started, it was pretty cool actually. What I like about is it that it's a pretty young Church, hence the youth don't just participate on the fringes - they're actually a core part of the organization. :) For the first time in a long time, I actually listened to the FULL sermon, and when it ended, I was like "really? it's done! that was fast!" As Gail said, the sermons were cerebral (which I liked), simple (not much ceremonies) yet just as heartfelt as the ones in my Church.

It made me realize the truth of what I believe in - that all our different Christian denominations, all our different religions, all our different dimensionalizations of God/Lord/All Mighty Being/Mother Earth/what-have-you are just different ways of expressing our faith. By and large, once's religion is undoubtedly influenced by your geographical location (if you were born in the Philippines, chances are you'd be a Christian; if you were born in the Middle East, chances are you'd be a Muslim), but does it really matter as to *how* you express your faith?

This doesn't mean that faith is random, given the mulitple proliferations of religions and sects and churches around the world. Far from it. I just really believe that this means faith is universal. I personally believe that it doesn't matter how you picture God (as I call him) in your life and how you worship Him. If you believe Him to be true, and your faith and manner of worship does no harm to other people, then by all means, go ahead. :)

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I just wanted to thank Gail for sharing with me these parts of her life - I've learned quite a few things over the past few months, things which have broadened my perspective on quite a number of things. I've also learned so much more about Gail, which is always a good thing. :) Merci beaucoup Gail! :) *high five!*

What to blog about?

2009-03-25T11:30:00.000+08:00

I was on a blogging holiday for a good 5 months...and boy quite a lot of things have happened. I've done so many things during that blogging holiday, and now that I'm back, I don't know what to write about.

Stuck in a moment! *arrrr*

Oh wait, that's right, I should be working coz I'm "working from home." Eh heh.

Be right back. With hopefully a sensible post. :P

The first note

2009-03-20T00:07:00.000+08:00

On January 1, 2009, I decided to start living again.

After basking in the glow of the decision to start living again, I stopped. I told myself, "ok, so you decided to start living again. Good for you. Now how do you go about doing it?"

Damn good question. I find that I have this tendency to ask myself questions without knowing the answer (and, in the process, digging a deep hole for myself).

Took me a while to realize the answer to that (yes yes, the choice of the blog title was a lame effort to make it a bit more creative, but it wasn't exactly AN HOUR past dawn of the new year!), but I eventually did. The trouble stemmed from the confusion I had over my actions in the past 2.5 months of 2008 - was that not "living?" Weren't all my actions at that time counted as part of living again?

I realize now that it was not living. It was surviving.

It was surviving by cramming a lot of activities into a 24-hour time slot so as to forget the pain. It was surviving by throwing myself crazily into any activity at all that could keep my mind and body occupied so I wouldn't have to THINK.

But by the middle of December, I was starting to realize - in my heart, if not in my head - that what I was doing wasn't living. It wasn't life at all. It was a poor facsimile of life.

Not to belittle the heroic efforts of my family and friends - far from it. I would not have survived without all these people, and my realization does not in any way diminish the appreciation that I have for the few close friends who totally went out of their way to keep me alive, sane, and fit.

But life isn't just a list of activities that you do for the sake of doing it - that's just passing the time. Life is living each day of your life with passion - by doing something which you truly believe means something to you and would make you a better person. Life is living each day without knowing if the next day would ever come - and rather than letting it depress you, it galvanizes you to do better and better.

Poetic? Maybe. Crap? Not at all.

I'm not perfect at all - far from it. But I can proudly say that every day I'm a slightly better person than I was the day before.

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This is the first note in my new blog, and this blog signifies a new phase of my life. My old blog is still around and I've written my final note on that phase of my life. Yet before I close it off, I wanted to publicly acknowledge the few people in my life who helped me reach the hour past the dawn during the last 3 months of 2008 and even until today.

My mom, my dad, my sister. Despite my many screw ups in the world, at the first sign of a) emotional distress, and b) physical danger, my family was there every step of the way. Indeed, the only thing I regret was not bringing them into my life (well, parts of it) earlier. My mom, my dad, and yes, even my sister (who did not let distance or varied time zones get in the way dispensing sisterly advice) really formed a cordon around me, and woe betid the person who tried to hurt me or take advantage of me at that time. I had a lot of long (and way overdue) talks with my mom (who finally was able to play the role of my mom to the fullest, after years of trying to hold herself back!), my dad (who finally was able to tell me point blank what I needed to hear) and my sister (who, despite my lame attempt 18 years ago to hit her with a thrown flashlight, still stuck around and gave me her "ate" advice) and I tell you, I'm a much better person because of it. When there was a threat of physical harm to myself, they acted so fast that even I was dumbfounded. I wouldn't have survived without them - mom, dad, ats, in case you do get to read this (and even if you don't, fret not, I made sure to tell you anyway), thank you for being there for me.

Jay, Marvin, Doms, Allan, Peps, Aldrin. For all the pep talks, the drinks, the YM debates, SMS queries if I'm still ok, LAN sessions, and the reminders that I deserve better in life - thank you. I understand why you all decided to not tell me what you knew in the past, and it's all effin' forgiven. But do that again and I'll do worse things than leave you behind in Left4Dead. :P

Anama, Anj, Gloria, Falqi, Mars, Jill, Paulo, Jobim, Mike, Legs, Kichi. Since I spend a significant amount of time in the office (at least 10 hours a day), I spent a lot of time with you in OND08, and bloody hell did you all make sure that I kept myself sane. Thank you for filling up my days and nights with different activities - airsoft, basketball, ultimate, running, dinners, movies, roadtrips, insta-clubbing nights. But beyond that, thank you for reminding me that I shouldn't bloody be lowering my standards at all, and for being the constant reminder that yes, it wasn't all my fault.

Anama and Anj. Specifically for choosing to still be my friends despite the threats to life and limb that you received because of your association to me. Yes, we all know it was funny, but I was honestly worried that you would distance yourself from me because of that, and I wouldn't be able to blame you if you did. So thanks. High five!

Pat, Essa, Roy, Ekis, Tito Monch, Ria, Sol, Nines, Benj, Vickie, Lerie, Obi. Yes, to my Wine-and-Cheese group. For all the emails, SMS messages, and frequent dinners that we've had. You guys are my moral compass. Thank you. 'Nuff said.

2009 brought in so much more people into my life whom I've known and become close to in various degrees. And of course, 2009 was the year that introduced me to Gail (more on her in subsequent posts!). But that is a whole different story, which talks about not just how I decided to live again, but how I went about it as well.

Yes, I'm back to my old (yet new!) blogging self. :)