Hamster's Birthday Bash

It's just a little over an hour after midnight, and I'm the only one awake after my birthday party. Lotsa people came over, from batchmates to community people and other assorted friends. My party is actually a kind of an annual mini-reunion, and the first one after four years and I think I think it went well, not sure because I was running to and fro entertaining the guests. All in all, it was a cool party ... I think.

Nevertheless, I am so damn tired. I was up 10 in the morning cleaning up the place till 6 in the afternoon, barely just in time to take a bath and out on some clothes before the guests arrive. And that didn't end the it at all, since I was busy spiffing things up and entertaining the people. By the end of the party I could barely open my eyes as I trudged down the party area, cleaning ( again!!! WTF?!!! I'm supposed to be the celebrant and I'm cleaning?!!!) up the place. Everyone is damn asleep so it leaves to me, the b-day boy, to make sure that the gates are lock, the lights off etc etc etc...

Well, I just finished cleaning up the place since I'm the only one not yet dead to the world. And here I am again babbling online, vast relief overflowing because of the silence and the mood that brings. Wherever I am, I'll probably stay as a nocturnal person, a creature of the night that haunts the darkness of my subdivision. Which, by this time, gives me a window of 4 to 5 hours of sleep since I have to wake up to go to work.

So I just turned 24. Whoopedoo. Now what? Well, I guess it's time for me to make b-day resolutions, some I intend to keep. Here goes, Hamster's resolutions...

1. Build a Website: It is time. The place is perfect. The only damn problem is that I'm always too damn tired to do it. I'll probably work on it on a Sunday to make it happen.

2. Lose some weight: Yes, I gained mucho pounds when I came back from Manila. Must be those delicious home cookings. I'll try to offset my eating habits with jogging, boxing and basketball.

3. Propose to this certain girl: Well, we didn't have our lunch date, but we get to have a dinner date in Manila this week. I'm leaving for Manila this Thursday, pray I don't fall down and worship the ground when the plane lands hehe.

4. Really learn MX Flash, Adobe Premier and Photoshop, not just the basics. Then start a sideline business on web designing to earn extra moolah.

5. Write a Novel: Yeah yeah, I've been trying to start for ages but I keep always losing myself after a couple of pages. Methinks I need an inspiration...or perhaps a Muse visitation ( wow...it rhymes!)

6. Join a rockfest: This is feasible, though the only stumbling block is our lead guitarist is having second thoughts. Ah well, to wherever the leaves fall down...

7. Collect Anime Vcds: Pikachu, I choose you!!! and all that other nonsense. Might be good business to sell this stuff here, since I'm probably gonna monopolize the market of bootleg anime cds.

8. Update this journal regularly!!! 'Nuff said!!!!

And that's that. I guess we'll see over a couple of months if I can pull it off, slave that I am...

State of Mind: Tiredness Personified Quadrupled...But Happy.
Song of the Day: Bacause of You by Nickelback
Number of Guests: 46 very hungry people
Number of Gifts: 7....arrrgh...I want more...

The Price of Literacy and Kill Hamster

Crap, my stuff is not here yet, and I'm stuck using the Netcafe's computers for internet access. Work is going well, at least I'm not bored to the ears and move around a lot. Which means a 50-50 chance that I'll get thin for the summer. But then again maybe not, by the rate I'm consuming food at the house. Damn the unlimited groceries....

Ok, weird thing today is when I bought a new novel by Terry Pratchett in National Bookstore, which costs around 350 pesos for the paperback and 450 for the special edition. I got mine here at only 130 pesos! And that's a new book! Hmmm, the literacy rate here must be going down if they keep marking down books, and new ones at that...

Oh, I watched Kill Bill the other night and I would just like to say that Quentin is the MAN!!! Wow, cool battle scenes and effects, but what really stood out is the music production. Truly a contender for an Oscar Nominee. And the midmovie anime is superb, I'm thinking it was produced by the guys who made Cowboy Bebop. Hmmm, I need to check on that. My favorite would be Chiaka Kuriyama form the Battle Royale fame ( memo to me, must buy the DVD! ). She plays Go-go Yubari, O-Ren Ishii's bodyguard. Nice casting by the way. The only downside would be that the movie was cut into half, Volume 1 and 2, and the second part would come out sometime summer.

All in all, I'm slowly getting into the vibe here in Iloilo, or perhaps because I'm so damn tired everyday that I ceased to care. Perhaps a day back in Manila would make up my week, or perhaps a month even. I'm considering now whether to take a two week vacation in the summer in Manila, all in my expense of course. Right now, Yellow Cab Pizza never looked so good and really to die for...

Arrrgh, I torture myself...

State of Mind: Tiredness Personified
Song of the Day: Someday by Nickelback
Now Reading: Truth by Terry Pratchett
Number of grouchy costumers this day: 3

Lord of the Rodents: The Return of the Hamster

Wow...

Amazing...

Stupendous...

Unbelievable...

What more can I say? LoTR: The Return of the King is a great great great movie. No words can describe the way I felt and experienced just by watching the movie. Suffice to say, I was totally blown away...hmmm, there's a rhyme there, hehe.

For me, the real hero of the movie would Samwise Gamgee. Without him, Frodo would probably end up with his arse sticking up a goblin's spear. Eowyn is still my beloved Princess of Rohan, she can kick ass while being ladylike ( take note: she does "tili" loudly while killing...) and Cate Blanchett I'll go down my knees and worship her from afar. Great casting...George Lucas, take note! Anakin Skywalker should be a brooding dark hero, not a lovesick puppy. Sheesh....

All in all, a fitting end to epic trilogy. Now, if only the other trilogies can shape up and take notes of Peter Jackson's directing...

I'm here still in a Netcafe. Just found out that my stuff has just been picked up yesterday, so it will probably be here sometime next week if not Saturday. Got tons to do, and being in the Releasing Department your hands tend to get dirty from the dust and ink. Oh well, at least the mind is free to wander and daydream. And I've been thinking now of a plot for a story, set up somewhere in the near future with Manila as the stage. It's good to let your hands work while your mind focuses on the other stuff.

Now, if I can just convince them to let me stay there, then everything would be just be peachy...

State of Mind: Boundless Euphoria
Song of the Day: The song sang by Viggo Mortensen, during his coronation
Now Reading: King of Torts by John Grisham
Favorite Scene in LoTR: The Coronation Scene

Hamster: The Slave and Exile

Wadaho!!! The skies are infinitely blue, the days longer and the air so sickenly sweet. Nothing like 'ol Manila, hey?

Anyways, I got time off from work, pleading a weak case of the shivvies. My parents, being the nervous wreaks that they are, insisted I go to the hospital and do all the necessary and unnecessary check ups...which I really do hate...loathe...whatever...just get the picture...

So I'm here at a Netcafe, wasting my time when I could have use it to play PS2 or perhaps plan things like my escape to the netherworlds...yuck, disregard the last one...

Seriously though, I wake up everyday faced with the notion that I'm going to do the same boring things for the rest of my life...and man it's freakishly scary. Thinking about it makes my blood run cold, in fact all I could do everyday when I wake is not scream at the top my lungs.

So how do I sleep at night? I don't. I practically tire or exhaust myself to sleep, just to wake up with backaches and with a sour taste in my mouth. I keep reminding myself everyday why I have to this, why I need to sacrifice something to gain everything...but sometimes I think I have sacrificed too much...

The trick is not to think about it, but then again its like telling yourself not to think of the color blue. So I'm trying really hard to make myself some pleasurable time or such nonsense to take the bad things off my mind.

So for now, I have Basketball Games on sunday afternoons, morning joggings on weekdays and, when my stuff arrives in a couple of days, my minitures painting session. Oh, and there's this girl that makes me wanna revoke my Kuya License. Question, how do you know the right signals? I totally in the guessing period now, I don't know whether she misses me or "misses" me? Ah well, let's just see as I have a "friendly date" with her this next week.

Oh, browsing through friendster I saw the pics of the guys on their Power Weekend last week. Grabe, nakakaingit! Arrrgh, my heart turned like stone when I saw the happy faces. And to add insult to injury, they texted me "Kuya Am, you gotta see the pics! It was so great! Sayang you weren't there!!!"

Ouch.

Pass me a bottle of sake and let's get this over with.

Speaking of sake, last night I watched The Last Samurai. In truth I was blown away by the cinematography and the battle scenes. I like everything, and that's because no part of the movie was cheesy...except probably for the ending but I guess I'll let that pass. And no, I won't mention Tom Cruise. But I'll mention Ken Watanabe and his japansese dudes though, the Samurais' here who really stole the scene.

Alas, LoTR is on the January 9th, and I'm really hype as hell to watch the Mother of all Endings. Wachoski Bros and George Lucas, this is how a trilogy is made, so pay good attention! I'm lining up to on the first screening!

I get messages and emails and phone calls about the regularness of my journal. Well, rest assured, I'm getting there once I set up things in a week or so, after I get my stuff.

'Nuff said, I gotta go home now and pretend I'm sick or something. Tommorow I gotta wake up early for my Driver's License Renewal Test. And then on Friday, LoTR the whole Day. Then back to work on Saturday. Basketball on Sunday. Work again on Monday through Friday.

My life is a broken down record player.

It needs a fast forward button.

State of Mind: Gray Green Fog of Nothingness
Song of the Day: Fortune Faded by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Now Reading: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Now Playing: Kya, PS2 ( Kinda like a cool spin off of Jax and Daxter )

The Exiled Saint: Manila Mayhem, Season One Requiem

It's a new year and a new life, hence a new chapter also. The Iloilo chapter would be a long one compared to Manila to the tune of three long years, which also means I'll be busy to write regularly...which I really hope not. In any case, I'll be starting my job at Dad's place this coming Monday. Another small step for the Hamster, another big step for life. Yeah yeah, I'm feeling melencholy right now, weird as it may be. I will miss Manila totally.

One of these days, I'll do a recap on my four year stay there, just not this month probably. Too many painful yearnings. For now, I would like to bury my past and look forward to a dawning of a new age and chapter, nevermind that I'm still in contact with the folks over there, like a habit of addiction. Well, those days will soon pass I'm sure, the almost daily phone calls will become weekly, then monthly, then yea...

Stop. Enough. I don't wanna think about it.

So, in any case, tommorow also marks a new era, at least for my friend that is. My very good friend Mark, he of the geeky glasses, authoritarian-conciliator manner and ex-seminarian, will be married tommorow. As one of his good buddies, he got me as second sponsor, particularly the Cord Couple. Whoopie do da...

Also tommorow is the birthday of my very very bestest ( yeah yeah, you get the picture ) girl buddy since kindergarten. Which also marks another reunion in the process. Which also means the comparing of wiastlines, jobs, lovelife etc.

Growing old is such also a melencholy event.

Which reminds me that my birthday is also getting nearer and nearer. Yeah gads, I'm that old already? Arrrrgh....

Time to tune out now, since I'm in a netcafe and they're closing in a few minutes. I miss Manila for it's all nighters...

That's it! Hamster logging out!!!

State of Mind: Still Mindless Yearnings....
Song of the Day: My Sacrifice by Creed
Now Reading: Pugad Baboy 16 by Pol Medina Jr.
Now Playing: Disgaea, PS2 by Atlus Gaming