Christmas Shopping

So because it's Christmas Eve and all, I just wanted to  share a little fun thing. Ever since I got into the Sentai trend two years ago, I've always wanted to come away with something physical, and what better way to do that than by expanding my already growing collection? 

If you may remember, I managed to get the Legends Mobirates some months ago (this post). Treating myself to a Christmas present, I was lucky enough to find the original Gokaiger Mobirates on sale at Great Toys Online Annapolis Branch for P3800! :) 

Christmas has come early me thinks.

The Gokaiger Mobirates comes with a few extra goodies: Gokai Red, Shinken Red and Go-On Red Ranger Keys! :) Finally, a Gokaiger Key. TuT

So below, you can see my growing box of Gokaiger merchandise. Two Mobirates and about 33 Ranger Keys, with a few duplicates that I don't really mind anymore. Merry Christmas!! :)

QA Three

I love being part of the QA Team. While it comes with understated salary digits compared to the rest of the developers, it's an often very misunderstood and underestimated job by those outside the gaming industry it makes having the job that much sweeter.

The opportunity to be a part of Anino Games way back in the summer of 2011 gave me a first-hand experience to what my first job would be like a year and a month later. My practicum with the company earned me rare opportunities to take command of a handful of people in the absence of someone more experienced. The wonderful irony of training real employed trainees when there wasn't any salary for the effort. It was felt.

Anino similarly provided me with a pool of friends that will be cherished forever. The opportunity to work with much of the same band of people I did back in my practicum days was priceless. These small friendships quickly evolved into posse's that shared meals together.

My other cohort in the QA Department is Tristan. He's a few months my superior, but I'm just as amazed at his diligence, despite having various complaints. He gets the job done somehow. We became a duo team-testing several projects together, so we quickly understood how the other works. I couldn't have asked for a better teammate. Especially when you take into consideration his excellent magic tricks and innate designer/programmer prowess.

3 months ago, I had the fine and wonderful opportunity to work with Jamie, an OJT who stayed with Anino after my departure to complete my senior year. When I rejoined the company last May, I heard stories of Jamie mostly from Bea (her teacher who urged Jamie and her friend to apply) that involved interesting comparisons to myself in terms of capabilities. I recall Bea fondly likening Jamie and I to Brawlers or Berserkers who could do so much in the world of D&D.

Meeting her personally last September/October was somehow pleasing. These past 3 months gave me the great chance of watching her work, interact with her and have a sense of what Bea was talking about. Tristan and I were eternally grateful that she was there to shoulder the workload.

It was ultimately a give-and-take between us if I considered our professional relationship: I taught Excel tricks, she taught Cinematics. Timing couldn't have been better.

Together, the 3 of us comprised what I fondly called "the QA Three", inspired by Thor's "the Warriors Three". Towards December, we began planning dinners along with our resident engineers, Fix-It Felix and Marvin the Martian.

Overall, I'm a bit bummed out that the QA triumvirate disbanded last Monday due to Jamie's contract ending after the company Christmas Party. But we all definitely came away with awesome, unforgettable memories we'll cherish forever.

Clockwise from the left: Nikka, Tristan, JD, Jamie, Me

The best memory we'll take away aside from the various dinners would be the QA Shakey's Dinner we financed last December 13. Our QA department comprised of our QA Director JD, Senior QA (now Associate Producer) Nikka, and the QA Three (Tristan, Jamie and myself), so we decided to have a dinner to have a long overdue celebration of mine and Tristan's regularization status with the company, as well as Jamie's farewell party.

Good luck to Jamie wherever she may go, and best wishes to our little QA family in the coming year!

Christmas Party

I never associated Mondays for Christmas party dates, but my company never really followed much of the status quo these days, so I suppose I could forgive the oddball date. That aside, I've been with Anino Games for 8 months now and counting, and might I saw what an interesting first few months it's been.

That aside, I just wanted to share how my first experience went. As far as Christmas parties are concerned, exchange gifts were seldom omitted, so AGI wasn't any different. We used trusty Elfster for the drawing of names, but the only complaint I had was that the names were re-drawn 3 times. Ah well. There was a raffle and I was asked to play the host for the event. On top of that, I joined the Talent Competition instead of the usual Annual Newbies Presentation since there weren't so much this time around.

I must say though: The food was great, I got the right gift for my "baby", I got an awesome gift from my "Santa", I had tons of LOL moments and my group (STAB composed of Felix, Nikka, Kem, EJ and myself) bagged the award for Best Presentation. :D Yup, this was a party of firsts to remember.

22nd Birthday

Two Saturdays ago was the day I turned 22. I remained in the dark with about as much as what I wanted, which I guess warrants the usual dinner party at home. The only difference, I guess, was the presence of mutual friends with Kai. So it wasn't so much of a waste.

As Saturday came and gone, I had yet to confide what I wanted from my parents. It hit me the following day that I wanted new glasses. And the rest, while not exactly history yet, is still in its festering stages.

But let's go back to what I received to save us all from my ranting. God knows I would. So my haul was different from past years without the usual wishlist to choose from. But the gifts rocked in their own way for being so different and unpredictable.

So this year, I got myself a Pikachu stuffed toy and a Challenge Accepted Meme Shirt from the Binamiras, a black paper pad from my nephews (c/o their mom), a Genius Voodoo Doll from TC and Kay, an Adidas Star Wars Jacket from my Uncle Noel and Auntie Shirley and a Harry Potter 1 book from Kai.

Last Wednesday, I received the glasses I had bought for myself that served as my parents' gift for me. The frames are Exte, and our favorite optical shop, Executive Optical, was the usual niche for eyewear of the family. :)

Accidental Twins

I've been badgering about this on my blog for some time now, but it wouldn't hurt to bring it up again, just for old times' sake.

After a quick search I realized that the last time I posted a picture of myself getting a haircut was more than a year ago (September 2011), without so much as a picture for comparison with Yuya. Now though, I've come bearing such a picture for you all!

When I finally decided to get myself a haircut, I decided to want to bring a reference picture this time around. While I was there, I was having a talk with the guy who was gonna cut my hair and I pulled out my iTouch and showed him the picture. After he commented on how good it looked, he began combing my hair and asked "Ikaw ba yan?" (trans. Is that you?) I laughed and corrected him, saying that it wasn't.

Funny how accidental twins can come about, eh?

Birthday Celebrations

I normally don't splurge on giving gifts to someone, but I've known for some time that Kai is always worth spending for. Perhaps it's the whole "first love" magic of sorts, but somehow turning 22 is a big deal. So for whatever reason, it's my way of saying a wide array of things at one: "Happy birthday", "I'm sorry", "You deserve it" and most importantly, "I LOVE YOU".

So let's have a breakdown of the things I got her!

Tardis Pendant (The Blue Box by Tuxessories)
As she is a big fan of Doctor Who, I thought getting this for her would be a great way to start things off. The squeal was priceless. xD

Pink Galaxy Pocket (Android Phone, split w/ her mom)
After having a trusty XpressMusic Phone from Nokia for the longest time, it was time she moved forward with the times. This was actually because of the commercial we kept seeing on TV, and it was relatively cheap compared to most phones out in the market. Sweeping SM Marikina stores, we stumbled upon a pink version of the phone. Convincing her mom to half the expense, I paid for it for the time being and the rest is history. Happy Kai, happy me.

Severus Snape Lego Keychain (Hobbes & Landes)
During one of those long nights when I had to wait for my mom before going home, I decided to do a little bit of exploring around Greenbelts 1 & 5. One of the little shops I discovered was the hobby store called Hobbes & Landes. During my sweep of the place, I wondered what would make another fantastic gift for Kai and initially I found nothing. But all that changed when I spotted small Lego figurine keychains of several key characters. Among them hung three pieces of SEVERUS SNAPE ones. Inwardly, I spazzed. He was the only remaining Harry Potter character on display and both of us are, to this day, mega fans of Snape. So I snagged it off the shelf and paid for it.

Purple Hard Storage Box (Tickles, c/o my Mom)
My mom asked me what would be a good gift for Kai as she planned to get something as well. Originally, I had suggested to get a book. Kai had been eyeing Mitch Albom's latest book, The Time Keeper for some time, and I thought that would have been the perfect gift. But it was out of stock in the bookstores I went to. I was willing to shell out the excess of my mom's ceiling price but I lucked out.

Instead, I came to browse through the Tickles stall in Greenbelt. I thought a pillow would suffice, but as I was browsing the designed that were behind the counter, my eyes found these neat boxes! I remembered how Kai always complained where to store her wires, so I though it was PERFECT. It fit the price range my mom was willing to pay so it made the choice even better.

Om Nom Doll (Clipper)
The adorable green creature in Cut the Rope named Om Nom became a fast growing fad. Clipper was one of those stores that sold odd ball merchandise that bordered on cute and squishable. This wasn't any different. This sudden purchase when Kai and I were together comes with some sort of explanation. Since Kai is allergic when in prolonged contact with anything with fur, this made the perfect bed companion (when I'm not around) for her! She immediately took to it and was lovingly scratching Om Nom, much to my amusement.

Belle de Jour Power Planner (Fully Booked, paid remaining price)
Kai has always enjoyed having the BDJ planner. One of the perks this time around was a coupon that we plan on using up for our 5th anniversary next year. I paid for the rest of the overall price for her, so she felt pretty safe and content having it on hand.

And moving beyond the physical, material gifts, there were two extra gifts I gave her: a Yakimix lunch treat and agreeing to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 with her. A buffet is a grand luxury I'd avoid except on special occasions and I've been wanting to take her there so doing so to celebrate her birthday was very much worth it. Plus since we dined there on a weekday, we managed to enjoy the Eat & Drink All You Can! :D Truly a grand experience.

I LOVE YOU KAI! NOW AND FOREVER~!

The Ramsay Effect

Last week I spent the first half of the long weekend with Kai. She was staying over at her relative's place with her mom in the Greenhills area, which made easy access to the Promenade, an establishment that housed several restaurants, a movie theater and several stores, including an epically huge Fully Booked branch. 

One of the reasons why I love going into bookstores is because you never know what you might find, or what catches your eye when you pass through the aisles. As we made our way to the third floor to locate the mangas, I spotted a book that had Gordon Ramsay's face plastered onto it, which effectively made me halt and nick it off the shelf to inspect it. Surprisingly, it was an autobiography. 

Kai and I are big fans of the Chef after watching several of his shows (Hell's Kitchen, Masterchef US, Kitchen Nightmares US, The F Word) on TV or other media. So this was definitely one of the primary reasons we wanted to have a better standpoint on his he grew up and how he became the sensational man who confuses me with his dexterity. I mean he slices and stuff with his left hand, but eats in a right-handed fashion (must be upbringing I figure).

Why the sudden topic, you ask? Well, that's because it's his birthday today!! So many birthday wishes to him~ :D

Tidbit #13

Time to revive this again! After 2 years, I think bringing in some tidbit posts will warrant me some quick snippets of posts while I figure out what more to do for the blog without having to upload any pictures.

I'm continuing where I left off with the number count from before, so here's Tidbit number 13.

My officemate Felix and I started this little thing of trying to get in sync with one another and greet each other at around the same time with the phrase "Harro~". Naturally, I take this with me outside the workplace and so one time, Kai and I were settled in the den playing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Wii game and while I was controlling Harry moving about the castle, there were voice overs of students you'd bump into or pass by who would greet you. I decided to insert the greeting Felix and I use and we end up with this witty exchange:

Random student: Hi Harry!
Me (as Harry): Harro~
Kai (as Random Student): Professor!! Harry's an imposter! He's talking in Japanese!

xDDDD

New Shoes~!

Whenever I shop, it's always a rarity that my journey into the department store of a mall would end up with me purchasing shirts, shoes or any clothing apparel to stuff into my closet. But when I do, I make it a point to find something that I'd end up using in the long run; shoes most especially. This was probably why I chose these awesome slip-on leather shoes from Salvatore Mann. I wanted to look for a pair I could wear for an upcoming wedding, so I might as well find a pair that I could use repeatedly. It's a fun line between formal and casual, so I can wear it on most any occasion - functions, dates, work. Have a peek below at my black leather shoes~

US Trip Abridged 1.0

I haven't been a good blogger since my trip to the US. Of course, there were a lot of issues that surrounded the lack of posts - the near immediate return to work days later, the need to upload the mass of pictures taken to Facebook, and reviving roleplaying with Kai. So to make up for it, I've decided to just wrap up the trip into two posts and hope that it counts for a good recollection piece looking back. Some memorable pictures surely to be included below!

All in all, my family and I went to four states and a few more cities.
San Diego and San Francisco in California, New York, New Jersey and the capital city of the United States, Washington D.C. It was a mix of old, renewed experiences of familiar places and new, breathtaking experiences of uncharted territory and sorta familiar places alike. So let's start the show and tell!

This entry captures the first part of our trip, focusing on our New York leg. Part two will have some outtakes from our brief New Jersey stop, Washington and San Francisco!

1. In-n-Out Burger, San Diego

Our midnight snack on the LONG drive from Los Angeles to San Diego. Dad wasn't able to join the flight with us, so it was just my siblings and my mom who arrived. My uncle Patrick and auntie Rose picked us up at LAX, and the drive was epically long.

2. Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York

My last trip to New York was a good 8 years ago back in summer 2004. At the time, I went with my uncle Patrick and cousin Troy, who at the time had graduated from college. Back then, my fondest memory of this place in New York was buying tickets to see the Broadway show of the timeless 'Phantom of the Opera'! We watched it at the Majestic Theater, and without fail, the broadway was absolutely magical and breathtaking! Now if only I could have watched The Boy from Oz....

3. Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York

The iconic fountain; a backdrop in a lot of movies shot in New York City. The first time I saw this 8 years ago, it was as breathtaking as I remember it to be~ Considering we live across Central Park, navigating to this fountain wasn't so much an issue as it was a true adventure just getting there.

4. Empire State Building, Midtown Manhattan, New York

My first trip to New York didn't put us in the luxury of having tours. We made like anti-tourists and took the subway to directly go to places we wanted to see, completely missing out on seeing the Empire State altogether. This time around however, we got the opportunity to see it during our Hop On-Hop Off tours around Downtown.

5. Flat Iron Building, Midtown Manhattan, New York

The iconic building where I always remember the Daily Bugle from the Spider-Man movies. A fantastic sight both point forward and from the side.

6. Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island, New York

Always a majestic view, and another icon of the great city on the East Coast. This trip was my first time touching down on Liberty Island to see Lady Liberty up close, so it was a real treat to actually appreciate and learn a little more about her and her significance in terms of symbolism and construction.

7. Bow Bridge, Central Park, New York

That bridge they use in Central Park for a LOT of scenes in movies and TV series would most probably be this one. Recently, I saw this featured during Episode 5 of Doctor Who Season 7!

8. Imagine Mosaic, Central Park, New York

Truth be told, I've heard about this, seen this in pictures, but it was indeed my first time seeing this "in the flesh" near Strawberry Fields in the midst of the vast Central Park. :) Hard to imagine hoe much of an impact this mosaic is, and not many people know that it's actually to fuss over and take a picture by!

9. The London, West Midtown Manhattan, New York

GORDON RAMSAY'S RESTAURANT! First learned about this during an episode of the 12-Michelin star chef's 'Kitchen Nightmares US'. So it was an absolute MUST to go and find this place no matter what and just have a picture outside it! And by some awesome circumstance, I found it! The London Bar, which also houses other restaurants of the 12-Michelin Star superchef: Gordon Ramsay at the London and Maze by Gordon Ramsay at the London. Hopefully someday I'll be able to sit down at one of these restaurants and have a bite to eat. Someday.

10. Nintendo World, Midtown Manhattan, New York

Seated in the midst of Rockefeller Center lies a two-story wonderland that is Nintendo World! From Pokemon to Super Mario Bros to Zelda and the like, it's an AWESOME store that sells merchandise and gadgetry of Nintendo happiness.

11. FAO Schwarz, Midtown Manhattan, New York

Ever remember Home Alone and that Big Piano in the toy store in New York? Well... THIS was the place! It's HUGE and full of toys of all sorts, including a Muppet workshop, sweets and candies, and stuffed animals, figurines and merchandise of all sorts! Toys, toys, TOYS!

12. Castle's Exterior Apartment, Soho, New York

Exterior used for Richard Castle's apartment in the ABC TV series, "Castle". :) It was a special side trip I took with my good HS friend Rina, bringing us all the way down to Soho. Definitely worth the trip, though I was at one point unsure if it was the place. But from some fun angle, I confirmed it. :)

13. Belvedere Castle, Central Park, New York

Location indicated in the Richard Castle penned "Heat Rises" in the middle of Central Park. One of the last places my friend Rina and I went to spending the latter half of the day together. While having full intentions of locating it, we actually stumbled across it by accident since we were almost getting lost and I wasn't going to ask for directions when the adventure of finding it was still there. Fun thing to note about Belvedere Castle is that it's actually used as a weather station of sorts, so the forecasts come from here, though it's more catered to the skies over Central Park, rendering some weather forecasts irrelevant in other areas of New York City. Go figure.

See you all in part 2!

Tenipuri Season 2 Jackets~

So yesterday, Kai and I went out to locate a gift for her cousin Chloe, who turns 2 today. After careful consideration of where we'd be going, I decided to drive us off to SM North Edsa. There are, of course, several reasons why I take her there. 

1. It's a mere 10 minute drive (depending on traffic) from my house

2. It's one of the biggest SM branches in the country

3. It's got most everything we want there. 

4. It was one of my most frequented malls prior to the rise of TriNoma and the mall's massive renovations. 

Last Saturday, we went there for dinner, decided on eating at Sakae Sushi located at the Annex building. As I was waiting in line at the BDO ATM, we found, to our dismay, that it had closed down. I guess profits weren't exactly on the positive side for the conveyor-belt sushi buffet. Ah well, economy. Instead, she decided to let me decide where to go, so we traded the sushi buffet for a nice food-hopping at Burger King, then Yoshinoya, capped off with some books shopping at a booksale on our way back to the carpark. 

Yesterday's misadventures brought us back to a second visit to anime specialty shop Comic Alley. We actually passed by this store twice last week to look for the Shin Tenipuri jackets of the U-17 camp and the One Piece poster collection, only to find both out of stock. This week, however, we our lucky day! Not only were several things on sale, but there was finally stock of the jackets, and Ryouma's hat to boot! I snatched us those as well as the posters she was looking for last time, and her only exclamation after all this (besides the usual proclamation of loving me for all eternity) - "I finally have a Tenipuri jacket with my size!T^T" 

xD Pretty hilarious actually, but all the same, sweet. x)

It's just the jacket, and there isn't much talk about a set coming out anytime soon, but I AM hoping they put the black jackets out to production too! Anyway, pictures of the jacket and the hat below~

Since we were hungry, we decided to eat at someplace new! A little Japanese place called Katsutei, where their specialty was their Katsudon. Kai and I had the Katusdon and Pork Tonkatsu especially, and wouldn't you know it, they actually tasked quite swell! And at an affordable price to less than P200 for each value meal. Not bad (on my wallet)!

Purchase Arrivals

What a treat after a long day at the office today! After being swamped to my neck in Excel formulas for one of my projects, I get picked up by my dad, who earlier that day, informed me that my pre-ordered copy of Richard Castle's fourth book in the Nikki Heat series, Frozen Heat, arrived from his friend in San Francisco! It's unexpectedly thinner than Heat Rises, but I'm happy to now that at least I finally have it on hand~ As was in my previous post below, this was one of the two books on my pending reading list once I finish Fifty Shades Freed. We'll see how things go, or where I lean over to - crime/mystery or tragicomedy.

And while we're on the subject, Season 5 has already started! It was indeed worth the wait and the episodes so far have been epically hilarious and ingenious at the same time. Yei~

The second of that little package was the skin for my Galaxy Ace. During my stay in the US, I took the time to purchase my current phone online on Amazon. While I was there, I ticked off some accessories to accommodate it - screen protectors and this skin. The screen protectors that were with my Uncle mysteriously disappeared/haven't arrived yet, so I'll settle for the skin that my Aunt sent over.

Waitlist

I always enjoy a good read, especially if it's worth it. The character, the plot, the premise - anything that gets me to read (okay, might as well include the author in the selection process) a physical book is always a welcome thought.

Lately, my love for reading was rekindled some months ago because of the Nikki Heat novels. Since then, I have been with a book in my bag every step of the way; to the last Artemis Fowl book, the Fifty Shades trilogy and the pending list of books after that. Scheduled on my waiting list are two titles by no so unknown people: JK Rowling's new adult novel The Casual Vacancy and the latest Nikki Heat novel Frozen Heat.

Before I get to any of those though, a little book called Fifty Shades Freed still stands in my way. I hope I could get to finishing it soon. I'm still figuring out which among the two I read next.

Work, Play, Sleep

I have a routine five days a week - wake up at 5:30 (or 5:15 on Wednesdays), take a shower, get dressed, ride to Makati with my mom, work for 8 hours, ride home with my mom at an indeterminable time, go home, chat with Kai if it's still early, then sleep, of course. I neglect adding when I actually eat, but mostly because it's usually negligible, stagnant or on the fly. Whatever the case may be, rest assured that I don't go without packing in some food amidst all that busy-body cycle that encapsulates my week.

Fridays, luckily enough, tend to be more spontaneous if you take into consideration that it's become common practice for Kai to stay for the weekend, which ultimately means meeting up Friday after work to do whatever. As of late, Kai and I have been finding ways to pass the time, especially if we want to hitch a ride with my mom heading home. For quite some time we took a bus but both of us easily got dizzy during the hour long (sometimes longer) commute that we settled for just riding home with my mom for convenience's sake.

Recently, Kai and I discovered Wako, a Japanese Family KTV and Restaurant right along A. Arnaiz Ave. where I work. A fellow officemate of mine, Mawsi, brought up the place during one random conversation in the pantry while we were consuming our lunch. Very quickly, we became attached to the place since it housed a number of TENIMYU and anime songs in actual Japanese! So a return trip soon is surely in order!

As things are, I don't mind the tedious work schedule. It's all to work myself up to a regular spot (just like Tenipuri!) and rise through the ranks within my company. Fingers crossed!

New Phone (Yet Again)

So I've had this phone for about a month now, but I never really got the time to introduce it to you all. Meet my new-new phone, a Samsung Galaxy Ace. My dream phone that ended up to be a not-so-dreamy phone gave me some fun but with everything chugging along in technical advancements, I figured that getting an Android to couple with my iTouch was the better option than going for an iPhone altogether. 2 gadgets means more stuff for well, stuff.

So this lil' guy I named Shoryuu or as I jokingly refer to it, the BannerPhone. Half of the reason is because Mark Ruffalo playing Bruce Banner is my current wallpaper for it, while the other is just because I'd think the good doctor would make his own brand of phone to contest anything that Tony decides to develop.

Old Locks

The house where I live has been there for 23-ish years; two years older than me and about as old as my sister. Aging houses often mean occasional tune ups to keep it in good condition. The reason why I brought this up was because the old reliable door that we locked at night refused to open to the turn of the key from the inside. There was more progress from outside but that only went as far as a turn of the key and nothing else.

It was completely hopeless from inside. I tried toggling from outside. It was tough. But somehow, success!

Even old reliable locks need to be replaced when it stops us from passing through. Guess it was its way of saying to use the actual front door.

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Review: The Help

To be honest, I was uniquely intrigued when I saw The Help nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, along with other categories such as Best Actress for Viola Davis and Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer. Out of the four, Spencer came out with the win. From what I picked up from the snippets shown during the airing of the Awards, it revolved around a familiar situation of uber-racist proportions.

Of course, this isn't the first drama I've encountered that tackled something as monumental as white against colored people ,or at least the mistreatment of the latter. Rather, it's not the first movie I appreciated so much when it comes to building a bridge between two races. Two others that come to mind are Hairspray, the musical-turned-movie about breaking status quo, and Something the Lord Made, a medical drama TV movie based on true events revolving around the collaboration of two doctors - one white and one colored (who starts off as a carpenter). These two contrast in many ways but come together where it matters most.

Hairspray, being a musical, underscored its plot through song and dialogue. It remains light but has a lot more to say beyond a show featuring the "nicest kids in town". Behind the scenes there's the issue of racism and close-mindedness with typical high class white women who will do anything to keep things where they are.

Something the Lord Made, on the other hand, is a true tale of the complex partnership of black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) and white surgeon Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman), who work together to solve the Blue Baby Syndrome. Their story revolves around the prevalent racism of segregation where most - well, all - black employees are no more than class 3 employees.

Ultimately, The Help once again brings the issue of black or white to the big screen, with a flavor of focusing on issues revolving around colored help and raising white children. The movie dons powerful insight into slipping through the cracks show and tell the perspective and overall state of the maids during this oppression. It evokes the freedom and courage to speak the truth behind an anonymity in the midst of racist white housewives whose only concern is to mind theirown kind, complain about sharing bathrooms and bridge tournaments.

This story emotionally moved me to understand where these maids were coming from and the bond that formed between these people and the people they worked for, if it ever was something to be cherished. I guess the best thing I can take away from this wonderful move are the words Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) imparts to Mae Mobley, the toddler she takes care of:

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

Artemis Fowl Collection

Last weekend, convinced Kai to help me sort out my bookshelves and take down some old Encyclopedias from my youth that was taking up the space. Primarily, I wanted to do this so that I could rearrange some of my shelves to contain my absolute favorite books and as a display space for my growing figuring/toy collection. For now, this short entry is just a feature on a completed set of books I recently championed last Friday when I bought books 2 and 3 of the series to complete it! So right there in the middle of the picture below, you see all 8 books of the series, coupled with some other interesting titles~

1. Artemis Fowl

2. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

3. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

4. Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

5. Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

6. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

7. Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex

8. Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian

Once I've finished reading my Fifty Shades trilogy, I'll most likely get to work on Frozen Heat by October when I get my copy before re-reading the series~ :D But for the meantime, I'll try coaxing my girlfriend to finally read it because she's missed out on everything.

Birthday greetings~

September 13: Tenimyu Season 1 Hyoutei A cast's Ootori Choutarou, Seto Yuusuke

September 15: Tenimyu Season 1 Fudomine cast's 2nd Tachibana Kippei, Kitadai Takashi

September 16: Team Batista's Narumi Ryo, Miyagawa Daisuke

September 17 (today): Tenimyu Season 1 Seigaku 1st cast's Inui Sadaharu, Aoyama Sotai and Hyoutei B cast's Mukahi Gakuto, Fukuyama Seiji

Fifty Shades

When I was browsing through my News Feed on Facebook, I saw a parody cover of the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' with Gandalf the Grey and Frodo wearing a ball gag. Granted, it was enough to pique my interest and made me ask the question: "What the hell is that?" And so the search began.

Thanks to Google, I got my answer as soon as I clicked on the Wikipedia entry. To my surprise, Fifty Shades of Grey penned by E L James was in fact a book. Categorized as an Erotic Romance novel catered to mature audiences (or basically anyone who can take reading carefully depicted sex scenes without fainting), Fifty Shades of Grey and the rest of its trilogy is not for the feint of heart.

Saying it that way would in essence answer the unspoken question of whether or not I could handle the topic, let alone all the smut. To be honest I enjoy reading these types of things to help in my so called "research" (take the air quotes a bit seriously but no pressure) for my fanfiction or blog roleplays. Plus it put things - like all those yaoi, yuri and hentai manga - in better perspective with good descriptions like James uses in the book. Yes I've read fanfictions that off the same prowess but there are limited reading materials that 1) use first person PoV and 2) talks excessively about the practices of BDSM which also turns out to be a topic of interest to me.

But don't get me wrong! There is no way you would convince me to suck up my submissiveness and get involved in all that. Again, I take interest in using what I learn through research and reading explicit manga titles like 'Hoshi no Yutaka', as well as the Fifty Shades Trilogy, for character development in my fanfictions and roleplays. Not to mention the general theme of writing out elaborate sex scenes (or lemons) has grown to be a talent of mine as time passes and this book is just helping me along that swimmingly. Fifty Shades provides me with an excellent avenue to explore heterosexual interloping jumping out from the pages of a book, crafted into a story to die for. A great inspiration and ultimately, a niche away from its primary idea as being a mere fanfiction of the Twilight series.

With all these descriptions it may already be obvious that I am in full swing of reading through the three books. I purchased them during my family's trip to the US a few weeks back; the first at Barnes & Noble in San Diego, and the other two at Costco wholesale in San Francisco. I am well into the second book as of this writing, and already there are dozens of ideas to stemp from it. The possibilities are endless.

When time permits, something more than a drabble will rear its head, probably once I've finished the trilogy of books. Here's to that undying splash of creativity!

And looking forward to the upcoming movie! :)

Go-Busters

Go-Busters Ranger Key Set 2 KITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Wait, wrong catch phrase. xD 

Well anyway, I got these guys over at Toys R Us Greenbelt 5, so it was a good snag since that meant I now have 3 complete set of Ranger Keys. I admit I was a bit skeptical of getting them since I was pretty backlogged in watching the series as I was prioritizing finishing Fourze as it was nearing its finale at the time. But Kai and I found the time to update ourselves and watch all the episodes we missed, and that was enough to convince me that they were interesting enough to get these keys. 

Gokai Change!

Gokai Change!

DISCLAIMER: Do forgive me for the lack of posts for the past few weeks. After I came back from our US trip it was straight back to work so I've got a backlog of topics to talk about. But worry not, I assure you they'll be fun and varied. 

It's not a secret that I enjoy Sentai Series; heck, I watch the recent ones fervently! Gokaiger is one of those uberly awesome part of the Sentai series that is fun to watch and doubly awesome to try and collect its merchandise. One such merchandise is the Mobirates and the subsequent flurry of Ranger Keys it can accommodate.

While I would very much enjoy having the actual Gokaiger Mobirates on hand, it was a bit heavy on the wallet (priced at Php4000+), so I settled with the Legend Mobirates instead, which was at about Php1600+.

The first time I peeled it away from its packaging, I was expecting it to be big and bulky, just like the show. Sure enough, it was exactly that. Of course, it varies from the Gokaiger Mobirates by a long shot (though aesthetic-wise it was just a contrast of silver and gold features) in terms of the sounds you can come up. There are quite a few codes you can get out of this bad baby, to which I'm entertained by.

As you've probably already gathered from previous posts, I already had a pack of Ranger Keys (the first 3 of the Go-Busters) without much purpose besides playing around with it. But with this purchase, things became more interesting, and the fuel to collecting more Ranger Keys was more of a fun collecting hobby that I wanted to ignite.

   

Aside from that, I've also purchased two new sets: Gekiranger and Dekaranger. I'm aiming to get the second set of the Go-Busters Ranger keys before continuing my hunt. Oh, and with the Mobirates was a free Ranger key of AkaRed (find the lonely guy in the middle of all the sets)! You can find my current set of Ranger keys below~

The latest to the collection was something my sister's boyfriend Kiks gave me (obviously just after I took that picture)! I believe it was from a gashapon egg since it needed some assembling, but it was a new Ranger Key. Kai and i weren't sure what it was - a low moment for us Gokaiger fanatics I know - so I slotted it into the Mobirates and found out it was Sun Vulcan. Hello VulEagle!

My next intended grab of the Ranger Keys is to complete the Go-Buster set. Beet Buster, and Stag Buster/J Ranger keys are already out in the market. Fingers crossed I get them okay!

Sites from New York

So this might well be my first quick post to serve as some sorta teaser on the places we saw in (the official) day 1 in our New York Leg of our vacation! So picture heavy with just a bit of descriptions, so to speak. I'll probably make a more detailed travel post when I have more free time. But just so there's a bit of explanation to the (awesome) vantage point of these pictures (except for Lady Liberty), these were taken from the top deck of the Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour bus we took along Downtown and Uptown.

Times Square. Not as awesome as when you see it at night, but still a great sight nevertheless. Of course I didn't include all the other amenities like the Broadway signs  (iconic of Times Square) since this tower was the best symbol representing it. That and my camera takes sloppy pictures at night.

The Empire State Building. I like the outcome of this shot that's off to the side a bit! It shows you a really awesome depth of the building. :D And that's all she wrote.

 The Flat Iron Building. You know, the one that looks like a big iron? I always enjoyed seeing this building. 8 years ago and until now.

 The Statue of Liberty. This time around my family and I had the great privilege of cruising over to Liberty Island where we could get this fantastic vantage point of her.

And finally, Brooklyn and Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan Bridge. This was during our Night Tour!

So that's it for day 1. Will probably put up another post from yesterday's trip where we visited some parts of Central Park.

Destination L.A.

*It is to be noted that I typed this entry on the plane, but I was only able to post this when I finally got net for my netbook.

It's been years since I last flew to the United States. Since my dad has been in the industry ever since I was born, we've always had this privilege to fly out to America every summer growing up. Our usual destination would be San Diego, California, considering a good number of our relatives reside there. But as time passed and we kids grew up, it became harder and harder to schedule these family vacations during the summer, starting with the year my brother entered college. We usually had summer semesters along with the usual school year, so planning had to shift to the vicinity of October and November.

This time around, all of us are now working. I'm currently on probationary status where I work for 6 months until November, but I was most fortunate to have accumulated compensation leaves from doing hours of overtime work for the past 3 months that allowed me to file for a leave that would last just a bit over 2 weeks.

Granted, I love my job. And if there would be any proof of that, it would be the positive evaluation I received just yesterday... if we still have not crossed the International Date Line. Taking a break from work for 2 weeks is most welcome, but somehow I couldn't shake off the fact that I still see myself going to work and testing out games from 8:30-5:30. But I don't think that's the point.

What IS the point is that as any year previous to this, our trip to the States is often never 100% full-proof. After all, using said connections of my dad, the tickets we have going to and from the States are non-reserved, or chance tickets meaning we could only get on the plane if there are available seats. With my dad's fairly recent promotion to Flight Purser, he gets the privilege of being able to upgrade our seats.

This is the first time I've ridden Mabuhay class; much more setting at the front of the plane. It's a very luxurious feeling with a fully reclining chair, my personal screen which I can choose what to watch and just the space. airplane food, good as it looks and probably tastes, never settles well with me during air travel.

This is the first time I've gone on a trip longer than a week - and to the States no less - during my relationship with Kai. The separation anxiety hurts, but I know our love is strong enough to make these 2 weeks go by quickly. When I return home, I know she'll be waiting for me to chat with her; as I am with her once that time comes. I love her so dearly, and I'll make sure that the wait is worth it. Doesn't hurt to find a good souvenir for her from New York too.

During my flight thus far, I tuned in to watch 3 movies so far: Rumor Has It (Mark Ruffalo), Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Chris Evans) and Australia (Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). I'm deciding if I watch any more movies or crack open my book and continue reading. We do have about 3 more hours of flight time, but I was considering taking a good nap. We'll see.

Books and Artemis Fowl

Midway through last month was the worldwide release of the final book of Eoin Colfer's well-acclaimed series, Artemis Fowl. The Last Guardian, which is the 8th and concluding in its series, was something I had been anticipating, and most of my motivation to finishing The Atlantis Complex several months back. The feeling that sparked me when I finally got my hands on my own copy, which I bought with my own hard earned money, was pretty much the same as when I got my hands on Deathly Hallows of the Harry Potter series - this was the end.

But with a heavy heart, I summon the little kid in me who has since been a faithful follower of Artemis Fowl the Second, Butler and Holly Short on this one last adventure, if just to put my heart at ease. And without fail, the finale was something I never expected. Much as Deathly Hallows brought tears to my eyes, this pretty much amounted the same result. 

I finally finished reading it last night, and I have nothing but kudos and praise to the great Eoin Colfer. Thank you for bringing Artemis Fowl into the world. Without Arty, I wouldn't be half the imaginative roleplayer I am today. Without Holly, I wouldn't be half as persistent to do absolutely everything in my power to see things through. 

When I had bought the last book last July 16, I was starting on the third of the Nikki Heat novels, Heat Rises. I decided to put it on hold to give me time to finish the AF series because I owed it that much. This way, I had enough excuse to take my Nikki Heat novel with me during our US trip this Friday. Sadly we won't be there until September 11 when Frozen Heat is released in stores. But for now, reading on!

Something that caught me by surprise while Kai and I were looking for a book to give to my nephew Tristan in Fully Booked last Friday! This graphic novel of the second book, The Arctic Incident, was a welcome surprise. Ironic, really, how I was leafing through the graphic novel of the first and ended up swiping up the second without really looking. Oh well, I'll return for the first graphic novel in time. But this is surely part of my reading list after Heat Rises.

Review: Ano Hareta Aozora

A few days ago, Kai and I managed to pool our resources together and got a copy of the latest Takumi-kun Series. Sometime last Saturday, I managed to receive the English softsubs for the movie so we could better appreciate it. So here's the review more than a year later since I first mentioned it in my blog here.

1) Gii and Takumi relationship: Happily enough, their relationship remains pretty compact, unlike previous movies where Takumi's phobia regresses or Gii had to leave for an extended period. They're learning to cope, and more importantly, adapt to the prospect of what a relationship is. So kudos to them~

2) Arata and Shingyouji: After PURE, where you already get a great idea on their weird relationship (which I probably more S&M than romantic thanks to Arata's choice of words), they still happily remain as characters intrinsic to the series and still manage to contribute if not push Gii and Takumi in the right direction - towards each other.

3) Gii and Arata: These two "geniuses", or the overly brilliant smart-ass and Student Council President (who I must point out are both Tezukas from Tenimyu!), actually deserve to clash, collide and confide in each other where it matters. After all, Gii's shortcomings are surprisingly already anticipated if not covered up by Arata, so their friendship, if it could even be called that, is one that's well worth the movie's time in stressing. It does make me wonder why it's just Gii owing Arata all the favors. xD

4) Takumi and Shingyouji: Ukes confiding each other is cute. Always was, always will. It's during these scenes where you're more likely to have a better overall idea of what they're thinking about their partners or how much they're so in love or have matured altogether (well, Takumi anyway).

5) Gii apologizing: I counted. He apologized five times throughout the movie, which was already a rarity if you consider how proud he normally was and the upbringing he normally portrays. Here he's just more vulnerable, and frankly, sorta reminds me of myself when Kai and I end up having an argument. Their argument in this movie reminded me of us actually.

6) Gii running (again): Well, this never gets old. Gii's always the one at fault, but ends up taking the most effort to run after Takumi. It's endearing, really. And I'm glad they kept this for the movie. Making Watanabe Daisuke run is uberly fun. xD

Impending Visit to the East Coast

So next month my family and I will be embarking on a trip to the US. What's different is that this time around we'll be spending it travelling to the East Coast rather than spending or entire vacation in San Diego, where all is familiar and most of our relatives reside. Part of our itinerary is to go to New York, New Jersey and Washington. Since I'll be bringing my little netbook along for the ride, I'll  probably be posting some reports of my trip as they pass if fatigue has not plagued me from all the walking I foresee.

Lounging some Fun

This will be a short post (not counting the mass of birthday celebrations I have missed once again) about a fairly simple topic: Slender Man.

Yesterday, one of my officemates shared a copy of the (free!) game and one of my good friends at the office, Felix, was the first to try it out. The name of the game? Slender. The objective is fairly simple: collect 8 pages. Apparently the circumstances are as such: you are a female character with a video camera, a flashlight running on battery with a mission to learn more about the Slenderman. The setting is dark, and there is no music save for the sound effects of your footsteps, and eventually, tell-tale signs of the Slenderman's approach. It's a minimalist game built in Unity, but is one heck of a scary game. For those who want a good scare, you can find the link to the site (and the download) here!

I'm still debating if I ever want to try playing it. But watching others play it is just as damn scary.

Sick Leaves

Pardon the post at this ungodly hour, but I was either too excited to wake up or just in some sort of adrenalin rush to attempt getting more hours of sleep in. Whichever the case may be, I thought it best to get this post out of the way to leave my conscience clear.

Second, I've been home sick the past 2 days due to a bad case of a migraine, back pains and a slight fever. Thankfully, after lots of water, sleep, juice and forced meals I'm well and set to jump back to work today. :D People are already looking for me at work, so that's great to know. Special thanks goes out to Kai for helping me in my recovery process who gave undying moral support until the bitter end. Thanks love!

TypeRacer

This post will be relatively short, but nevertheless good fun.

So today's topic is concerning TypeRacer, an online application that allows you to practice and compete with other online users or your friends to test your typing speed. I've actually signed on here since my freshman year in college that fateful afternoon during CS21a class when we were racing against one another.

Today in the office, several of my officemates were playing it and Nikka - who I had introduced the site to during my OJT days - practically endorsed me to try it. Surprisingly the results afterwards were astonishing, even for me. My average speed moved to 100wpm, which was just literally minutes ago in the vicinity of the 80's.

So yeah! 8D Wheeeeeeeee~

If you wanna give it a go: http://play.typeracer.com/

Impromptu Dates

So yesterday was Independence Day here in the Philippines, which equally meant that there wasn't going to be any work. Happily enough, I got to sleep in and woke up at around 11 to rains and strong winds. So much for the alleged picnic at the memorial park. Our grandparents could wait, but the bad weather was just not ideal for it. It was a day I was supposed to haul my ass off and meet with Kai prior to the picnic, but oh well.

Plans quickly changed when we decided to meet anyway. So an afternoon and early dinner well spent at Quezon Memorial Circle for the two of us as we ended up renting a 3-wheel pedicab to bike around for about 30 minutes before deciding to settle in for a treat of Kamameshi House Tori Kamameshi~ Ironically, it was a good way to celebrate the day as well, as much as we didn't exactly pay tribute to much. Oh well.

To top it off, she ended up sleeping over~ We watched Batman Forever that was showing on HBO before we settled in to sleep to wake up early for today. She rode with us to Katipunan where my mom and I dropped her off to get breakfast before she ran any errands for the day prior to going home.

In other news, we've begun plotting for more of our upcoming fanfics on our joint account. So if you're an avid reader of our works, please please please review and author alert! :D

Splash of Creativity

Greetings of many! It's been a while since I've made a post, but maybe it's more because I've been so swamped with work to have any time for typing up any decent ones. So I promise to make this quick. After all, posts that end up too long just end up getting delayed, so short ones can grow in quantity just as easily. Fingers crossed.

So for the past few weeks, Kai and I have been busying ourselves not just with our array of roleplays, but also with rekindling our love for writing fanfiction. It actually goes without saying that we needed another outlet besides all our blogs; just as a way of reaching out to other fans and see how our writing style and ideas get accepted in the land of fantasy.

To accomplish that, we write as a duo, writing up alternating chapters of several ideas. One of our more recent projects include the Avengers pair-ups, which eventually will turn into a collaboration by the very end~ Do take some time to read our works!

Dream Inn: Driftwood for iPad

Since my Mom enjoys playing games with her iPad to pass the time, I figured she wouldn't think twice about spending time away from her usual line of games to play our game - Dream Inn: Driftwood for the iPad. It was only released last May 24, but it's a fancy Hidden Object game that might just catch my mother's interest.

It took some tries to get it to download correctly, but this morning, finally, it was ready for playing. The first thing she asked was "Is your name there?" Naturally, I moved to the credits to prove such, and there was my name. Sense of accomplishment~

On the way to work today, my brother was driving, and my mom took the liberty of playing while in the car. Funnily enough, she'd ask me from time to time: "Trish, what a sextant?" "Where do I put it?" "I can't find it." I had to force down a chuckle.

So if you have an iPad, please do get it from the App Store! The initial download is free, but the purchased version comes up after 5 levels~

Movies and Mark Ruffalo

I think I'll blame The Avengers. Since its debut here in the Philippines last April 25, the hype never seemed to end and the impending box-office smash hit managed to take away two of it's screening times from my life; one in 3D, the other in good ol' 2D viewing. Of course, when are movies ever going to be a waste of my time?

But this Avengers movie was different. Of course, with a star-studded cast portraying a band of epic superheroes, how could it flop? The biggest surprise came in the big package, all bundled up nicely with a bow in the form of Mark Ruffalo portraying Bruce Banner / Hulk. 8D

It was a welcome surprise, really. He was a newcomer compared to the rest who reprise their roles from previous Marvel flicks and the third overall to portray the good doctor. And may I say, he has just been full of surprises. He made me an insta-fan for Bruce, and I'm very much glad to hear that the overwhelming positive reviews landed him a six-movie deal to continue portraying Bruce! *cheers*

In other news, I decided to procure a copy of 2004 flick 13 Going on 30, where Mark portrayed the adult form of Matt Flamhaff. It's not surprising that a number of his movies have him in the same demeanor and acting style, with variations in character personality. Needless to say, he is just very much a great actor that has gotten my utmost respect.

Best of luck to him, and I'm very much looking forward to his future work and success in the Marvel world~ Looking forward to his own Hulk movie!

New Shirts

Admittedly, I don't normally spend on buying new clothes. At the time, I never had the money and would more often than not ask my Mom to get it for me. But, since I make my own money now by slaving away at a game company, I decided to spoil myself when Kai and I went to SM North one fine Saturday since I was treating her out with a portion of my first salary. 

Granted, it was a good find; I never had enough polo shirts, though I very much enjoy wearing them. A sorry excuse to wear more to work. Just when we were about to head home after a satisfying early dinner at Sakae Sushi, we stopped by the Surplus Shop and I found myself a neat piece of polo shirt (that I wore to work Monday morning) in a nice shade of red checkers that reminded me of lumberjacks. xD 

A good buy, if I might add.

Happy Birthday Yuya!

So because I don't want to pass up the time and opportunity, I just wanted to post to greet my 'twin' who turns 22 today!

お誕生日 おめでとう 松下 優也！
＼(^o^)／

Sweet Sunday

Yeah, the title was meant to be a pun since I had a sundae at Swensen's on a Sunday~~

Being a chocolate lover makes things even tastier for me. So after my lunch treat at RAMEN BAR (the decision made by my sister chanting it in suggestion), Mom urged us to look for an ice cream parlor for dessert, which Dad ended up spending on.

Whee~~

Kitaro Dinners

Last Monday and yesterday, I had the opportunity to have dinner on the way home from work with my mom. On these days, we ate at KITARO along White Plains. Having a light meal of Salmon Maki (and some of Mom's California Maki) was a nice reminder of dinners spent some Tuesday back at ALLS prior to my HCI class.