Victims

I sit here on a terrific Thursday to write about things I have no idea about. Again this is about me.

I saw a lot of homeless people once again as I went to work today. Most of them have taken the sidewalk for their dwelling place. As in...readmorehere

Stepping into a New World

January 24^th. My legs took me somewhere strange. I was in a dream world where fantasy and fiction combined with the real and the common – or so I thought.

I didn’t know what pushed me but it was my first time to attend an Anime Convention. It was not only crowded with people, it was teeming with the weird, the amazing and the unknown. With fellow novices in a world of the otaku, I was speechless.

I set off from work in the afternoon and picked up my friends.Read more here

Remembering Maslow

According to Abe Maslow, people’s needs have levels – five levels to be exact. Somehow it fits the mold perfectly well. The things he mentioned really mirror the magnanimity of people’s needs. Yet that is the only thing worth mentioning about his Hierarchy of Needs Theory because not all the time to we get them.

Maslow mentioned five basic levels. They are as follows in order of importance:

1. Biological and Physiological Needs: refer to food, nourishment, air, etc.
2. Safety Needs: refer to protection, security, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love Needs: refer to affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem Needs: refer to achievements, responsibility, status, etc.
5. Self-Actualization: refer to personal growth and fulfillment

As we look at it, they only remain as figures and approximations.
Read More

Gamersville Yet Again

I have just posted some blogs about games and gamers, now I never realized that I would post again after a few hours. Try reading it here and here for a change.

I admit I am a gamer. Not hardcore though. I still sleep and eat at the right times. I even have enough time to do my work.

Although I could be hardcore if I wanted to. In fact anyone could be one.

While browsing through the news online, I hit upon one cool article that really amazed me. Try to read it here <-click link

The fact that you could actually trace someone while playing games is cool enough. Wait till you learn that the game company actually helps out in tracing people and they do have the access codes for that.

So does that mean it's the end of privacy?

Whatever, I've got nothing to hide. I just revel at the fact that 2010 is a year for innovations and amazing ideas. Just beware that surprises, though cool, could not always be helpful.

Gotta Catch 'Em All Craze

"Largest Collection of Pokemon Memorabilia: 12,113 unique Poke-things make up UK-resident, Lisa Courtney's real life Pokedex." - Guiness World Records for Gamers

I couldn’t believe that someone literally took the initial concept of Pokemon seriously and took it to another level. You can’t blame that person, it might be fun.

I remember myself when the pokemon craze started. I was in highschool back then. 1st year I think. There was a group of us, rather most of the boys in our class, became hooked. We were like some underground organization meeting just before the flag ceremony to talk about our latest catch on our pokemon games. We all had a copy of the game either through emulator or through a real gameboy. Most of us memorized the current 1st generation pokemon. 151 in all including the, then elusive mew and the yet to be revealed Mewtwo.

Just like any juvenile craze, it died down after a year and was replaced by mini-4wds.

At least that’s what I thought.

Come college, I met someone who was also hooked. Although he doesn’t look interested, he asked me to download the latest games on an NDS emulator and he sometimes searches for the action figure of his favorite pokemon. I know he wouldn’t comment on this, it would be very obvious.

I also did the same though. Boys will always be boys.

In defense, there was a thin line of limitation through it all. We never talked about it openly. We never even aimed to collect all of them, just those that looked the coolest or meanest. But 12,113 Poke-things is just over our heads. It’s total addiction. It’s “gotta catch ‘em all” on a higher level.

If anything, I wouldn’t go there at all! I’ll just leave Lisa Courtney be. It’s her passion. In the same way, leave me be, I’m just playing here.

Wanna trade your Munchlax for my Riolu?

365 days later... an oddyssey for 2009 and a question for 2010

I haven't made it a habit to make any resolutions, and I never planned to start now. Maybe a story or a question will do. Let's start with 365 days.

365 days. Yes it's that long. Let me tell you about it.

I thought of the perfect present for me for Christmas. Not that I believed that Christ was born on Christmas. Rather, I find that the season is appropriate to give myself a gift. Several people told me that sometimes one should indulge and treat oneself after one heck of a work load. One of those people was me.

Yes, I took the liberty of giving myself a gift. I planned it carefully. I saved up for it actually. It’s something I needed badly so maybe it was as well.

To those who know me, you might have guessed that it was a book. You’ve guessed it right. You really know me. It is a book, a very important one, too. It’s something that I really wanted since graduating. No, I really wanted that book even before I graduated high school. It was around 3rd year or something.

So this was my chance. I waited for a long time.

I wanted a Bible.

Not just any Bible. A Bible from my own blood, sweat and tears, I can identify anyone from our church or any other church who could give me a Bible the moment I asked. But I really wanted something that I would treasure because I bought it. This ought to be the perfect gift for Christmas for me now that I have a job. I waited long enough for this.

I browsed around the bookstores even before December. NBS, Powerbooks, Fully booked, even Booksale. I wanted to find the one that would definitely suit my needs, something really applicable to my current sinful condition – the depressed, and hopeless sinner type.

It’s the perfect gift, isn’t it?

It probably is.

That was last 2008.

Whatever made me hold back on buying a Bible at that time was entirely forgotten. It took 365 days – 381 to be exact for me to get a hold on that elusive Bible. It was like a treasure that took forever.

Shame on me.

In the span of 365 days, I bought a cellphone, an mp4 player, new parts for a desktop computer and many other things – but not a 450pesos worth of a Bible. A real shame, I was able to buy all those expensive things, but never the one thing that would get me at least one step closer to God.

I was able to buy the BIble. At long last, it took a long time. Just before 2010 started, I went out and made a great decision to buy the long sought after BIble. It's nothing grand at all. Just a regular Bible that I could call mine.

The experience made me wonder, how easy it is to make a split second decision to buy gadgets that we coveted and other material things that we wanted – not needed. Yet we forget to forge the strongest link with the person who could give you more than those things many times over.

But what could we humans do? We are sinful as it is. How could we make the decision to strengthen our relationship with God more than the things on this world?

We have another 365 days to think about it and probably change it.

HAPPY 2010!!

The Case of the Smelly Pandan

Two friends messaged me to post another blog. The first one sent the message on facebook. The other one sent it through my nerves. That friend lives between my ears. 

No matter how I try, I seem to find myself starting blogs and losing interest somewhere in the middle. In the end, I don't get any posts done. Don't worry though, it's a different case for eval reports and work related stuff. I also hit the deadlines with church related stuff.

Anyway, these days are really rock. My mind is currently in search for answers. You see, around our house, you could see leaves that look like this:
That's Pandanus or in local terms, pandan. Wikipedia says that it's a genus of monocots with about 600 species. Seriously I didn't know they were this many. The leaves are usually used in weaving mats and the like. Most of us also use pandan to give rice an aroma. Yep, it's that smelly. And of course, who wouldn't know of the all too common buco pandan? It's a delicacy!

So why did we put it around the house? Simple. Someone told us that pandan repels insects especially cockroach. No it doesn't kill roaches, my brother tried hitting the roaches with those leaves and they just scurried away. I didn't know which is really ineffective either the pandan or my brother. I'm betting everything on the latter.

Anyway, so someone did tell us to put pandan in every corner of the house that became home to squatter roaches.
I also placed some in our cabinet where we hang our pants.
Even on my bookshelves.

I was eager to see what would happen after I placed it there. I imagined some aura from the leaves would ward off the cockroaches that seemed to appear at night when our neighbors below us started spraying.

The chance for the pandan to show it's stuff happened last night. Our neighbor sprayed their insecticide in the middle of the night. Two things happened. First, the pandan was able to hold back the roaches from entering our cabinets and corners. Second, since the roaches had nowhere else to go, they went to the sleeping person on the bed which was none other than me!

Conclusion? I had one hell of a night swatting those roaches away. Killed a lot. I learned that pandan works and that my neighbor needed scolding for spraying insecticide in the middle of the night.